The Federal Government’s plan to offer discounted petrol for 30 days has drawn criticism from opposition figures and political groups, with former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, the Obidient Movement, the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) and the presidential campaign organisation of Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde questioning the intervention’s adequacy and timing.
The government announced on Thursday that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) would temporarily forgo its retail profit margin and sell petrol at cost in a bid to ease the impact of rising global oil prices on Nigerians.
However, the opposition groups argued that the measure offered only temporary relief and questioned whether it would significantly reduce transportation costs and the wider cost of living.
The Presidency, meanwhile, maintained that the arrangement was not a return to fuel subsidy, which was removed on May 29, 2023, but part of a broader package of measures to cushion the effects of global oil price volatility.
Atiku, Obidient Movement fault initiative
Atiku described the intervention as a “panic-driven publicity stunt” in a statement issued by Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communication of the African Democratic Congress Presidential Campaign Council.
The former vice-president questioned the decision to limit the discount to 30 days, arguing that Nigerians would continue to face high fuel prices and transportation costs once the initiative expires.
“Atiku totally rejects this calendar-scheduled, election-laced subsidy package. Nigerians are not fools to be offered a month of discounted fuel after years of punishing prices and then expected to forget the hardship when the discount expires. This is shameless and heartless,” the statement read.
He also questioned what would happen after the 30-day period.
“What happens on Day 31? Nigerians wake up to the same brutal prices, the same punishing transport fares and the same rising cost of food. The government cannot manufacture relief for one month and expect Nigerians to applaud while the hardship remains,” he said.
Atiku further challenged the restriction of the discount to NNPC filling stations, asking how much consumers would save per litre and what safeguards would ensure that commercial transport operators passed the savings on to passengers.
He argued that the government’s move supported his proposal for production assistance tied to locally refined petrol.
“This volte-face proves that the production-support proposal I have advanced is workable, achievable and not complicated. The Tinubu government and its spin doctors have tried to make it sound impossible, yet they are now reaching for a temporary subsidy-style intervention because the pain has become impossible to ignore,” Atiku said.
He called for lasting measures to reduce fuel costs rather than temporary interventions.
“Nigerians need lasting relief, not a countdown to the return of hardship. Tinubu’s government cannot spend years telling Nigerians to endure, then offer 30 days of relief and call it a solution,” he said.
Atiku added, “Tinubu made life expensive. I will make life affordable again.”
The Obidient Movement also questioned the timing of the announcement, suggesting that it could be connected to the 2027 general elections.
In a statement by its Director of Media and Communications, Onyeka Dike, the movement asked why the government had waited more than three years after removing the subsidy before introducing the measure.
“For three years, Tinubu told Nigerians that the ‘baby steps of pain’ were necessary. Now, suddenly, a petrol discount is possible. So, what changed?” Dike asked.
He further queried, “Did subsidy suddenly become good because Peter Obi said he would restore it? Why the desperation as elections approach?”
Dike argued that Nigerians had endured rising petrol prices, higher taxes, increased tuition fees and escalating food costs since the subsidy was removed.
“The pains were never necessary. They were policy choices,” he said.
The movement urged the government to pursue sustainable reductions in the cost of essential goods and services, adding, “Three years of suffering cannot be erased by 30 days of petrol discount.”
NDC, Makinde’s campaign organisation criticise discount
The Nigeria Democratic Congress also rejected the initiative, describing it as “tokenism and a Greek gift from a government that whimsically removed fuel subsidy without proper consideration, consultation, or cushions for Nigerians.”
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Osa Director, said the measure would not address the wider economic consequences of subsidy removal, including job losses and business closures.
“Nigerians cannot be deceived,” he said.
Director also questioned whether NNPC filling stations could adequately serve the population, warning that limiting the discount to the company’s outlets could lead to congestion and stampedes.
“The attempt to reintroduce petrol subsidy through the backdoor is not only mischievous but a sign of a government in free fall, ready to clutch at anything to survive,” he said.
The party urged Nigerians to support Peter Obi and other NDC candidates in the 2027 elections, declaring, “A New Nigeria is POssible with Obi.”
Similarly, the Allied Peoples Movement Presidential Campaign Organisation associated with Makinde described the discount as inadequate and questioned its significance compared with previous increases in petrol prices.
In a statement issued by its Director of Strategic Communications, Richard Ihediwa, the organisation criticised what it described as a N60-per-litre reduction.
“It is a slap in the face of the suffering citizens that at the time they expected an impactful reduction in the astronomically high pump price of petrol, the Tinubu government came out on national media to announce an infinitesimal and ‘microscopic’ discount of N60,” the statement read.
The organisation also questioned the disparity between previous fuel price increases and the proposed reduction.
“The question is, why is it that the Tinubu administration that is so quick in carrying out geometric increase in the price of petrol by up to 733% is now embarking on arithmetic ratio in decrease with a teeny N60 in a desperate attempt to score a cheap political point just because elections are around the corner,” it stated.
It further criticised the restriction of the discount to NNPC-owned filling stations for one month.
“The fact that the minuscule reduction will only be on scantly located NNPC-owned retail filling stations and for a period of one month clearly shows that the Tinubu administration has come to its wits’ end and become bereft of solutions,” the campaign organisation said.
It added, “What Nigerians desired and deserve is an impactful reduction in fuel price and not this dishonest act to hoodwink citizens ahead of the 2027 general elections.”
Presidency explains arrangement
Responding to concerns over the intervention, the Presidency said NNPC Retail would implement the arrangement within 30 days, with commercial transport operators among those expected to benefit.
In a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the government said the company would sell petrol at its landing cost rather than add a retail profit margin.
The statement, titled *‘NNPC Retail forgoes petrol profit margin to offer some support to Nigerian households amid global petrol crisis; FG announces additional measures’*, explained that the price paid by consumers would reflect the cost at which NNPC obtained the product.
“This means if NNPC’s landing cost is N1,300, it will sell fuel to Nigerians, especially commercial vehicles, at the same price,” the statement read.
The government also said it was negotiating a ceiling of N1,350 per litre on petrol’s ex-gantry or landing cost to help moderate price fluctuations.
Under the proposed arrangement, refiners and importers would bear costs exceeding the ceiling and recover the shortfall later when crude oil prices or the exchange rate improved, without breaching the agreed limit.
“This is neither a subsidy nor a price control: it is designed to smooth prices over time rather than suppressing them,” Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele was quoted as saying.
He explained the rationale behind the proposed ceiling, saying, “The reasoning is simple. N1,400 a litre today and N1,400 tomorrow is better than N1,500 today and N1,300 tomorrow, because volatility itself adds to uncertainty and cost. And when fares rise sharply, they rarely