₦airaland Forum

DANGOTE’S WARNING EXPOSES TINUBU’S FALSEHOOD ON ATIKU’S SUBSIDY PLAN.

Atiku Abubakar

Atiku says production subsidy will protect Nigerian refineries, cut domestic production costs and make fuel more affordable without forcing refiners to sell at a loss.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused the Tinubu Presidency of deliberately distorting concerns raised by Dangote Refinery in a desperate attempt to discredit his production subsidy proposal, saying the refinery’s warning against arbitrary pump-price controls actually exposes the dishonesty of the government’s argument.

In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said Dangote Refinery was right to insist that a private refinery cannot be forced to carry losses created by government-imposed prices, but said the Presidency was being deliberately dishonest by pretending that this was what his plan proposed.

“Dangote raised a legitimate business concern. The Presidency turned it into a campaign of fear.

“A refinery that has invested billions of dollars cannot be commanded to sell indefinitely below cost and absorb the losses. That would be reckless, economically destructive and unfair to any private investor.

“But that is precisely why our proposal is different.

“We are restoring subsidy through a production subsidy model, not an import subsidy model.

“The difference is simple enough for every Nigerian to understand. 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.

“Think of it like rice. If government wants rice to become cheaper, it has two choices: spend money making imported rice cheaper, or help Nigerian farmers reduce the cost of producing rice at home. The second option lowers prices while also creating jobs, strengthening local businesses and keeping economic activity in Nigeria.

“That is exactly what we are proposing for fuel.

*We are restoring subsidy, but moving it from importation to production.*

“The subsidy follows the barrel refined in Nigeria.”

Atiku said his proposal would reduce the cost of crude feedstock supplied to qualifying domestic refineries through a transparent, capped and independently verified mechanism.

“If the crude entering a refinery becomes cheaper, the cost of producing petrol should also come down. That reduction should then 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.”

Atiku said the government’s attempt to equate every subsidy with import dependence was a brazen, dishonest and crude distortion designed to mislead Nigerians of the policy debate.

“Under our plan, support will be tied strictly to crude refined in Nigeria. Nigerian refineries will benefit. Nigerian workers will benefit. Nigerian businesses will benefit. Nigerian consumers will benefit.

“If you do not refine in Nigeria, you do not qualify.

“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.”

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.

“Dangote raised concerns about margins, price controls and policy uncertainty. The Presidency somehow converted that into a prophecy that the economy would collapse.

“That is not economics. It is melodrama from the Villa.

“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.

“In fact, the warning proves why the intervention must be intelligently structured.

“Our policy does exactly that.”

Atiku said his administration would not fix an arbitrary pump price and compel domestic refineries to carry the financial burden.

“If government wants to provide additional relief beyond what lower crude-input costs can sustainably deliver, then government must pay for that relief openly.

“It must be budgeted. It must be capped. It must be audited. Nigerians must know exactly what is being spent and what they are receiving in return.

“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.”

Atiku said the production subsidy would therefore 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.”

Atiku said Nigeria’s refining future would depend heavily on private capital and that the commercial viability of domestic refineries must therefore be protected.

“Dangote Refinery, modular refineries and other Nigerian investments must remain viable. We want more refineries, more investment, more competition and more refining capacity.

“But the Nigerian consumer must also benefit from the fact that this country produces crude oil.

“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.”

Atiku accused the Tinubu administration of turning hardship into an ideology and calling it reform.

“For three years, Nigerians have been told to endure.

“Fuel rises, they say endure. Transport rises, endure. Food rises, endure. Businesses are crushed by energy costs, endure. Household incomes collapse, endure.

“Every new hardship is presented as proof that reform is working.

“Then we propose a production subsidy that will reduce the underlying cost of making petrol in Nigeria, and suddenly the Presidency predicts catastrophe.

“What kind of government is terrified by a policy designed to make production cheaper and life more affordable?”

Atiku said the hypocrisy was even more glaring because the Tinubu administration itself routinely grants waivers, tax credits, incentives and concessions to businesses.

“So intervention is acceptable when government gives waivers and concessions to powerful interests, but it suddenly becomes dangerous when the objective is to reduce the cost of fuel, transport and food for ordinary Nigerians?

“That is not economic principle. That is selective compassion.

“Our proposal is clear: support domestic production, reduce the cost of crude going into Nigerian refineries, protect legitimate refinery margins and ensure that lower production costs translate into lower costs for Nigerians.”

Atiku said the Presidency should stop inventing a policy for him and then attacking the fiction it created.

“We have been clear from the beginning.

“We are restoring subsidy through a production model.

“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.

“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.

“If the Presidency wants a debate, let us have the debate.

“But let it first stop lying about what we are proposing.”

Atiku said Dangote’s warning ultimately strengthens the case for the production subsidy model.

“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.

“It protects refinery viability while reducing the cost of producing fuel in Nigeria.

“That is the choice before the country: continue with a system in which Nigerians pay more and government merely explains their suffering, or move 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.

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.”

Signed:
Phrank Shaibu
Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication to Atiku Abubakar, Vice President of Nigeria, 1999–2007, and Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress.
11 September 2026.

Source

The problem with whoever composed the gibberish is that, he/she does not know how trade works.

If a US who has massive reserves is having high energy prices, then you ask yourself why they cannot replicate same the writer stated.

I can’t educate unless I will be paid for my services

What are we benefiting as citizens, please if subsidy is gone, why is government not meeting obligations, except for palliatives?

HacheNoire:
The problem with whoever composed the gibberish is that, he/she does not know how trade works.

If a US who has massive reserves is having high energy prices, then you ask yourself why they cannot replicate same the writer stated.

I can’t educate unless I will be paid for my services

Are energy prices really high in the US when compared with the minimum wage? Now, compare and contrast with Nigeria. The US also subsidises its agricultural sector heavily. For a poor and developing country that Nigeria is, Tinubu has no business removing subsidies for virtually all and every sector while simultaneously raising taxes just to please IMF. Tinubu floated the naira and yet, Nigeria has no comparative export advantage on any product. Atiku will bring back subsidy and if heaven falls, it falls!

Buhari called the bluff of the IMF and his reasons are common sense.

This is why Buhari refused to float the Naira even with IMF pressure. Tinubu caved for power. Listen to Buhari here in his last Aljazeera interview. He explained why he is going against the IMF and their call for him to float the Naira. He even got visibly angry in this video… pic.twitter.com/ppASkEA1l4

— Uba Danzainab (@danzainabsports) February 24, 2024

HacheNoire:
The problem with whoever composed the gibberish is that, he/she does not know how trade works.

If a US who has massive reserves is having high energy prices, then you ask yourself why they cannot replicate same the writer stated.

I can’t educate unless I will be paid for my services

So a data boy who lives on 30k a month knows..lol

What a load of tosh.

Fusl Subsidies are gone forever.

Look for something else.

Streetinvestor2:
So a data boy who lives on 30k a month knows..lol

Your opinion is yours and I respect that. I cannot change it.

Sibs8dy is not coming back.

Which money will Atiku use to pay for this crude oil?

After the States and LGs take their share of the money, he will now use Majority of what's left to pay for subsidy?

How will he pay Civil Servants?

How will he pay Pensioners?

How will he equip the Military?

How will he pay Contractors?

Still price controls by another name.

We've tried something similar in the 1989s and it didn't work then.

Just like what Tinubu is doing with electricity now. Price controls . And we have light all day, lol. ( Sarcasm fully intended)

Result is the same .More borrowing

Plus Dangote is still importing crude. Is Atiku going to subsidise that too?

Having seen what subsides in all from have done to our economy, to.ell.with them

Brainless epistle.
Bring back subsidy,get little reprieve,states go back to not paying salaries,ASUU goes back to strikes,soldiers go back to collecting #59,000 salary instead of #189,000,workers go back to collecting #30,000,Profs go back to collecting #800,000 monthly instead of #1.2millon and so on.
A lot more debt with few infrastructures that will eventually be abandoned as most previous govts have done then....
we go back to removing the subsidy because it is unsustainable and start fresh pain and agony that is if we don't fight war...

This is a brilliant idea from Alhaaji Atiku Abubakar

Crude is an internationally priced commodity. If Brent is $105 and Atiku wants it to go to Dangote at $70, who pays the difference...and if he says...well Fed will eliminate all taxes that is due to the Govt...he cannot because the Presidency alone cannot make that decision. The States and LGAs are entitled to the funds from these accounts and it will reduce the funds coming to sub-nationals slowing development. If the argument is that low petrol prices will spur development...why has it not done so all these years?

iwaeda:
DANGOTE’S WARNING EXPOSES TINUBU’S FALSEHOOD ON ATIKU’S SUBSIDY PLAN.

Atiku Abubakar




Source

Putinofrussia:
Brainless epistle.
Bring back subsidy,get little reprieve,states go back to not paying salaries

So Nigerians must keep suffering and some people keep using money collected from poor Nigerians to keep buying houses abroad and ride expensive cars.

Oga talk another thing apart from subsidy to sway voters. We can't go back to subsidy, you can't drag back Nigeria again, we need to move forward.

MasterTeeUSA:
Crude is an internationally priced commodity. If Brent is $105 and Atiku wants it to go to Dangote at $70, who pays the difference...and if he says...well Fed will eliminate all taxes that is due to the Govt...he cannot because the Presidency alone cannot make that decision. The States and LGAs are entitled to the funds from these accounts and it will reduce the funds coming to sub-nationals slowing development. If the argument is that low petrol prices will spur development...why has it not done so all these years?

What rubbish are saying here, when we were refining with our own refineries, were the refineries buying crude at international crude price. Was the NNPC selling the crude to the refineries at the international oil price. Is that the way it is done in other oil producing countries

Lekby25:
So Nigerians must keep suffering and some people keep using money collected from poor Nigerians to keep buying houses abroad and ride expensive cars.

Most of us don't understand that the most viable way to get away from the abyss Nigeria has been in since 1960 is what President Tinubu has embarked on.
He is just a bold and determined man to have had the insight to do this in first term.
He would forever be remembered as the best President of Nigeria for the strong positive foundation he is building for Nigerians and Nigeria.
Yes,no pain,no gain.
Nigeria will be the greatest African nation before President Tinubu leaves in 2031.
You can take that to the bank.

HacheNoire:
Your opinion is yours and I respect that. I cannot change it.

I'm beginning to like you, realising not everything we become aggressive to, your response just beautiful.

Nigeria, a very funny country ruled by wicked and heartless people, supported by ignorants, wicked
and selfish souls.

Parachoko:
Which money will Atiku use to pay for this crude oil?

After the States and LGs take their share of the money, he will now use Majority of what's left to pay for subsidy?

How will he pay Civil Servants?

How will he pay Pensioners?

How will he equip the Military?

How will he pay Contractors?

How was buhari and others before Tinubu paid workers?

Hismajesty44:
How was buhari and others before Tinubu paid workers, afterall pump price during buhari was ₦195.00?

It was done by borrowing to pay for it

Parachoko:
It was done by borrowing to pay for it

After we pay through our blood, why's Tinubu still borrowing?

HacheNoire:
The problem with whoever composed the gibberish is that, he/she does not know how trade works.

If a US who has massive reserves is having high energy prices, then you ask yourself why they cannot replicate same the writer stated.

I can’t educate unless I will be paid for my services

This comment is like asking Nigerians to pay the tuition fee at Havard in Unilag simply because they use the same syllabus.

Nations are built on competitive advantage. Government grow economies by making it's citizens rich so that when they are asked to pay taxes it doesn't become a burden.
The U.S. economy has been developed for that level of price.
Economies that depends heavily on taxes first grow their citizens earning power through education and social mobility to increase their income, then reduce the cost of other basic necessities like security, health care benefits and pension, sufficient minimum wage.

The idea of local refining is to grow local energy production capacity, get relevant know-how for future energy companies, make energy affordable for Nigerians.
However this government percieve every transaction as a tax venture.

Nigerians were supposed to enjoy the fact that we could control all the supply chain factors for fuel energy. Instead they say it as a massive tax avenue.
Now every manufacturer, service provider and local enterprise is struggling to survive.

Energy is the driver of all economics.

Lekby25:
What rubbish are saying here, when we were refining with our own refineries, were the refineries buying crude at international crude price. Was the NNPC selling the crude to the refineries at the international oil price. Is that the way it is done in other oil producing countries

The guy you quoted is right

The problem is, crude sales from a very important part of government revenue . If Atiku is selling crude at discounted price to refineries , that means that a large chunk of potential revenue for govt has gone . And that money can be replaced by more borrowing which leads to more debt

Vote for Atiku , Tinubu has to go, but his plan for production subsidy is at the expense of government revenue . Meaning more borrowing or salaries and projects do not get paid

Plus we need that oil revenue. We are paying a very hefty debt and we need every drop of oil money right now, among other things

badoh:
Oga talk another thing apart from subsidy to sway voters. We can't go back to subsidy, you can't drag back Nigeria again, we need to move forward.

You're not informed. Nigerians are saying they want to be taken back. Back is better than the "forward" Tinubu appears to be taking us. Subsidy oyoyo! Atiku is coming!

HacheNoire:
The problem with whoever composed the gibberish is that, he/she does not know how trade works.

If a US who has massive reserves is having high energy prices, then you ask yourself why they cannot replicate same the writer stated.

I can’t educate unless I will be paid for my services

It is what trying and see if it’s gonna work or not

Atiku sha wants to manipulate voters with this is enticing subsidiary talks that holds no water. Atiku is just a desperate bad boy😁

Hismajesty44:
After we pay through our blood, why's Tinubu still borrowing?

to build coastal highway to his bedroom at the expense of Nigerian people, yeye people

HacheNoire:
The problem with whoever composed the gibberish is that, he/she does not know how trade works.

If a US who has massive reserves is having high energy prices, then you ask yourself why they cannot replicate same the writer stated.

I can’t educate unless I will be paid for my services

Citing US reserve here depict you dont have the intellectual properties for the discuss

as a matter of Fact, US subsidized fuel with tens of billion thereby making the price lesser than int'l market .. go n verify

2ndly, US have 130 operating refineries that speaks volume of excess production and if at all you are familiar with the designs of most of the refineries you will know why they are largiest net importer of crude. let me break it down for you

US crude is light crude, which is not suitable for most of there refineries across the country, hence they have to import
The fact that imported crude is sancrosanct to most US refinery operation defeat the Crude subsidy to locals model, that is why they subsidize the end product. They can't replicate the model

You see why i say you dont know what you are saying

Atiku has exposed the folly of Tinubu and his suffering inducing reforms

HacheNoire:
The problem with whoever composed the gibberish is that, he/she does not know how trade works.

If a US who has massive reserves is having high energy prices, then you ask yourself why they cannot replicate same the writer stated.

I can’t educate unless I will be paid for my services

US is having higher energy prices were? US for price has barely moved 10% while that of Nigeria has moved by over 50%!!

Meanwhile to answer your question directly. Price of fuel moves in the US because their currency is the official currency of trading for crude. So any movement in crude oil price just be reflected in dollar terms. Countries like Nigeria should be benefiting from that situation just like we see Saudi, Angola, Qatar, Libya doing but for some evil policies the reverse is the case in Nigeria

A concise and utterly objective assessment.

Technical Writer