FG’s 30-Day Petrol Discount Lacks Legal Backing, Workable Plan — Adebayo

The Social Democratic Party (SDP), Presidential candidate, Prince Adewole Adebayo, has said the Federal Government’s 30-day petrol discount through the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), has no legal backing, and no substantial plan to effectively implement it to reduce the hardship inflicted on Nigerians in the past three and a half years of President Tinubu’s administration.

Recall, the Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele, had announced that the NNPCL would sell petrol at cost for 30 days, stressing that the measure was not a return to fuel subsidy.

But the SDP presidential candidate, who spoke on Channels Television’s Politics Today, dismissed the intervention as a flashy gesture without foundation.

According to him, the government failed to cite any law authorising the discount, did not establish any dedicated account in the Ministry of Finance for such intervention, and did not present any clear implementation framework.

He noted that none of the officials who announced the policy represents the NNPCL, the agency expected to execute it.

Adebayo likened the announcement to the popular 1990s television comedy, Fuji House of Commotion, describing the current administration as confused.

“What they are presenting is Tinubu’s house of commotion. It does not make any sense in any way. One month is not short term; it is not medium term; it is not long term; it is a flash in the moment.

“Long and short, it looks to me like the government is genuinely now and sincerely confused because they have created problems for themselves,” he said.