Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress(NDC), Peter Obi, has defended the removal of petrol subsidy, saying poor management of the savings from the policy should not be a reason to reverse it.
Obi spoke on Monday at the Nigerian Bar Association conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, while reacting to the growing debate over the future of fuel subsidy ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
His position differs from that of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who has said he would restore the subsidy if elected president in 2027.
Obi said subsidy removal was necessary but argued that the Federal Government failed to put proper measures in place to protect Nigerians from the immediate effects of the policy.
“I subscribe and I maintain that we need to remove subsidy. Mismanagement of the proceeds should not be the reason for not removing it,” Obi said.
According to him, the government should have provided alternatives for Nigerians while directing the savings from subsidy removal into productive areas that would improve the economy.
“What we should have done is that when we removed it, we should have given the people alternative usage for the subsidy,” he said.
Obi also alleged that the resources saved from subsidy removal had been mismanaged and stolen, stressing that the problem was not the removal itself but how the resulting funds were handled.
The former governor said he had proposed a structured approach to subsidy removal in his manifesto before the 2023 presidential election.
“Go to my manifesto, I said it before, I said I will do it in an organised manner and whatever we recover would be invested appropriately,” he said.
President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of petrol subsidy shortly after assuming office in May 2023. The decision led to a significant increase in petrol prices and intensified concerns over the rising cost of living.
While the Federal Government has maintained that subsidy removal was necessary to reduce pressure on public finances, critics have continued to question how the savings have been used.
Obi’s latest comments place him between the positions of the Tinubu administration and Atiku on the issue. While he supports ending the subsidy, he strongly criticises the government’s handling of the resources and the impact of the policy on Nigerians.