President Tinubu Rejects Atiku Abubakar's Call for Fuel Subsidies

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu rejected calls to reintroduce fuel subsidies, describing the previous system as a ruinous drain on trillions of naira. The president's stance follows a series of appeals from Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate for the African Democratic Congress, who urged the government to lower petrol and diesel prices to ease the economic burden on Nigerians.

During a press conference in Abuja on September 18, 2026, Abubakar argued that the removal of the fuel subsidy in May 2023 triggered a chain reaction of rising food and transportation costs. He criticized the government's reliance on palliatives, stating that such measures manage pain rather than addressing its source. Abubakar offered to provide a policy framework to lower prices and warned that planned protests by transporters in Lagos might be used by the president as a pretext to temporarily reinstate subsidies as a political trick to secure re-election.

In response, Tinubu promoted the National Affordable CNG Transit Programme, which focuses on compressed natural gas and electric vehicles. He announced a goal for Nigerians to see lower transport fares starting October 1, noting that over 120,000 vehicles have already been converted to CNG. Felix Morka of the All Progressives Congress dismissed Abubakar's proposals as political stunts, claiming the former vice president failed to provide viable policy alternatives.

Abubakar pledged that if elected in 2027, he would implement a transparent production subsidy for petroleum products refined within Nigeria and opposed the planned 2027 phase-out of electricity subsidies.