Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said concerns raised by Dangote Refinery over government-imposed petrol prices have vindicated his proposal for a production-based fuel subsidy.
Atiku, through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said on Friday that Dangote’s warning that private refineries should not be compelled to sell petrol at a loss was a legitimate business concern which the Tinubu administration had allegedly distorted to discredit his proposal.
“Dangote raised a legitimate business concern. The Presidency turned it into a campaign of fear,” Atiku said.
He explained that his proposal was not aimed at forcing domestic refineries to sell fuel below cost, but at reducing the cost of crude feedstock supplied to qualifying Nigerian refineries through a transparent and independently monitored system.
“We are restoring subsidy through a production subsidy model, not an import subsidy model,” he said.
According to Atiku, the key difference is that an import subsidy would support petrol refined outside Nigeria, while his proposed production subsidy would support crude refined domestically, allowing Nigerian refineries to produce fuel at lower costs.
“The subsidy follows the barrel refined in Nigeria,” he said.
Atiku said the proposed mechanism would include a capped level of support for crude supplied to eligible refineries, independent verification, electronic tracking of crude intake and refined output, domestic supply obligations and regular audits.
He also rejected the argument that protecting consumers from high fuel prices must come at the expense of refinery profitability.
“We reject the false choice between a profitable refinery and an affordable pump price. A competent government should be able to protect both the producer and the consumer,” he said.
The former vice-president said the government should not impose an arbitrary pump price and leave private refiners to absorb the resulting losses.
“If the government wants to provide additional relief beyond what lower crude-input costs can sustainably deliver, then the government must pay for that relief openly. It must be budgeted. It must be capped. It must be audited,” he said.
Atiku maintained that his proposed policy was designed to encourage domestic refining, attract investment, create jobs and reduce the cost of fuel for Nigerians.
“We are proposing targeted support for crude refined here in Nigeria so that domestic refineries can produce more competitively, expand capacity, create jobs and sell fuel at a price Nigerians can better afford,” he said.
He urged the Presidency to engage with the substance of his proposal rather than, in his words, “inventing a policy” for him and attacking what he described as a fictional version of his plan.
