‘I was demonised for suggesting it’ — Atiku on FG removal of petrol price cap

Atiku Abubakar, former vice president, says he was demonised for suggesting that fuel subsidy should be eliminated.

Atiku, who was the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), listed subsidy removal as one of the points of his campaign.

On Thursday, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) announced the removal of the price cap on the retail price of premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol.

In a tweet on Friday, Atiku said he was demonised for making the same suggestion to the federal government.

He alleged that the price-fixing system has been laced with corruption and stalling investments.

“FG finally withdraws from the fuel subsidy and price-fixing bazaar that had been rife with corruption and stalling investments. This is something patriots have been calling for and for which I was demonised,” the tweet read.

In a notice dated March 20 and published on its website, the agency said a market-based pricing regime would now determine the price of the product.

On May 10, Atiku had urged the federal government to change its focus from fixing petrol prices to boosting the country’s capacity to process crude oil for domestic consumption.

He recommended the liberalisation of the downstream sector as against fixing of the petrol pump price.

“The price of crude and fuel can fall even further or go back up without notice. Nigeria, as it stands today, does not even have the money to continue to be involved in backstopping fuel price at any level,” he said.

“And the way to go is to liberalise the downstream subsector and not fix prices as long as the marketers can import on their own and sell.”