Presidential candidate of the Nigerian Democratic Congress, NDC, Mr. Peter Obi, on Monday clashed with African Democratic Congress, ADC, counterpart, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, over his proposed return of fuel subsidy if elected in 2027.
The ex-governor of Anambra State spoke, yesterday, at the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, while reacting to the debate over whether fuel subsidy should be restored as proposed by Atiku.
Atiku, recently said he would restore the policy if elected president in 2027.
But Obi maintained that subsidy removal remained necessary, arguing that the problem was the failure to properly manage and invest the resources saved from the policy.
According to him, “I subscribe and I maintain that we need to remove subsidy. Mismanagement of the proceeds should not be the reason for not removing it. What we should have done is that when we removed it, we should have given the people alternative usage for the subsidy. What we have today is that that removal and the attendant resources being recovered is also being mismanaged and stolen”.
The former governor said he had anticipated the need for a structured approach to subsidy removal and had outlined his position in his manifesto ahead of the 2023 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,” Obi said.
President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of the petrol subsidy on his inauguration day in May 2023, triggering a sharp increase in petrol prices and widespread concerns over the rising cost of living.
