Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has tackled the Presidency over its claim that his proposed fuel subsidy policy could cost Nigeria N19.1 trillion annually.
Atiku’s camp dismissed the figure as propaganda, accusing the Presidency of deliberately misrepresenting his proposal in an attempt to discredit it ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
The controversy followed comments by Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Digital and New Media, Otega Ogra, who said during an interview with TVC News that Atiku’s proposal would impose a huge financial burden on the country.
Ogra also questioned how the former vice president intended to finance the proposed intervention and the source of the petrol to be subsidised.
But Atiku’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, rejected the N19.1 trillion estimate, saying it was based on a misunderstanding of the policy.
“Having failed to defeat Atiku’s proposal on its merits, Otega has apparently resorted to the oldest propaganda trick in the book: throw a gigantic figure into the public space and hope its size will frighten Nigerians into abandoning the conversation,” Shaibu said.
He argued that Atiku was not proposing a return to the old, open-ended petrol subsidy regime, but a targeted intervention linked to domestic refining and consumer relief.
“Atiku is not proposing the resurrection of the old, corrupt, open-ended import subsidy racket. He is proposing a targeted, capped and production-linked intervention tied to domestic refining and measurable consumer relief,” he said.
Shaibu also accused the Federal Government of applying a double standard to policies designed to reduce costs for businesses and ordinary Nigerians.
He said the disagreement was not simply about arithmetic but about correctly understanding the structure of Atiku’s proposal before attempting to calculate its cost.
“Before manufacturing gigantic figures around a policy, first understand the policy,” he said.
On Atiku’s position that “subsidy follows the barrel,” Shaibu explained that the proposed intervention would be tied to verified petrol output from domestic refineries.
He said qualifying petrol production would be reconciled against the benefit delivered to consumers, stressing that the proposal would not amount to an unlimited government payment for every litre consumed.
“It does not mean the government writes a blank cheque for every litre consumed in Nigeria, nor does it mean every refinery by-product suddenly becomes subsidised,” Shaibu said.
He described the Presidency’s N19.1 trillion estimate as “a propaganda number desperately searching for an economic argument.”
The exchange has further intensified the emerging economic policy debate ahead of the 2027 presidential election, with Atiku’s camp insisting that targeted measures are needed to reduce fuel and transportation costs while supporting domestic refining