By Omeiza Ajayi
ABUJA: Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has thrown his weight behind Dangote Refinery’s warning against arbitrary pump-price controls, insisting that his proposed production subsidy would protect Nigerian refineries and reduce domestic production costs without forcing them to sell at a loss.
In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku accused President Bola Tinubu of deliberately distorting concerns raised by Dangote Refinery in what he described as a desperate attempt to discredit his production subsidy proposal, saying the refinery’s warning actually exposes the dishonesty of the government’s argument.
“Dangote raised a legitimate business concern. The Presidency turned it into a campaign of fear,” Atiku said, adding that a refinery which has invested billions of dollars cannot be commanded to sell indefinitely below cost and absorb the losses, describing such a demand as “reckless, economically destructive and unfair to any private investor.”
He said this was precisely why his proposal differed from what the Presidency had portrayed it to be, explaining that his plan was restoring subsidy through a production subsidy model rather than an import subsidy model. “Import subsidy spends public money supporting petrol refined abroad and brought into Nigeria. Production subsidy supports crude refined here in Nigeria so that Nigerian refineries can produce fuel more cheaply and Nigerians can pay less,” he said.
Atiku said his proposal would reduce the cost of crude feedstock supplied to qualifying domestic refineries through a transparent, capped and independently verified mechanism, with the reduction expected to reach the average Nigerian while preserving legitimate refining costs and a reasonable commercial margin. “There is a clear difference between helping a producer reduce costs and forcing that producer to sell at a loss. The Tinubu Presidency knows this. If it pretends otherwise, then it is not confused. It is deliberately misleading Nigerians,” he said.
He described the government’s attempt to equate every subsidy with import dependence as “a brazen, dishonest and crude distortion designed to mislead Nigerians,” stressing that support under his plan would be tied strictly to crude refined in Nigeria. “This is not a subsidy for foreign refineries. It is not a subsidy for importers. It is not a subsidy for middlemen. It is a subsidy for Nigerian production,” he said.
The former Vice President said the Presidency’s reaction to Dangote’s disclosure showed how desperate the government had become to defend an economic model that had made everyday life painfully expensive for millions of Nigerians, adding that “a refinery warning that it should not be forced to sell at a loss is not the same as saying that government must never support domestic production.”
He said his administration would not fix an arbitrary pump price and compel domestic refineries to carry the financial burden, stressing that any additional relief beyond what lower crude-input costs could sustainably deliver must be openly budgeted, capped and audited. “You cannot announce a politically convenient petrol price and quietly dump the cost on the refinery. That is not policy. That is confiscation by another name,” he said.
Atiku said the production subsidy would operate with strict safeguards, including a hard fiscal ceiling, a maximum support level per barrel, independent verification of supported crude, electronic tracking of crude intake and refined output, domestic-supply obligations, transparent pricing, independent audits and severe penalties for diversion or fraud. “We will know how many barrels receive support, which refinery receives them, what is produced, what it costs the taxpayer and what benefit Nigerians receive. No mystery barrels. No endless claims. No blank cheques,” he said.
He said Nigeria’s refining future would depend heavily on private capital, and that the commercial viability of domestic refineries must therefore be protected.
Atiku accused the Tinubu administration of turning hardship into an ideology and calling it reform, saying Nigerians had been told to endure rising fuel, transport and food costs for three years while every new hardship was presented as proof that reform was working.
He said the hypocrisy was more glaring given that the Tinubu administration routinely granted waivers, tax credits, incentives and concessions to businesses.
Atiku urged the Presidency to stop inventing a policy for him and then attacking the fiction it created, insisting that his campaign had been clear from the beginning. “We are proposing a production subsidy not an import subsidy. We are not proposing to subsidise petrol refined abroad. We are not proposing to force Dangote or any other Nigerian refinery to sell below cost,” he said, adding that if the Presidency wanted a debate, it should “first stop lying about what we are proposing.”
He said Dangote’s warning ultimately strengthened the case for the production subsidy model, noting that both the refinery’s concerns and the hardship faced by Nigerians could be addressed at once. “Dangote is right that a refinery should not be forced to carry the burden of an artificially imposed price. We agree. Nigerians are also right that the present cost of fuel, transportation, food and doing business has become unbearable. Our production subsidy answers both concerns,” he said.
Atiku said the choice before the country was between continuing with a system in which Nigerians pay more while government merely explains their suffering, or moving to a production model that deliberately lowers costs and puts money back into people’s pockets. “We choose production. We choose Nigerian refining. We choose Nigerian jobs. We choose affordability,” he said.
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“Subsidise Nigerian production, not foreign importation. Produce here. Refine here. Create jobs here. Pay less here. That is the Atiku production subsidy model, and no amount of propaganda from the Tinubu Presidency can change what it is.”
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