Opposition attacks 30-day offer as FG insists on sale at cost

NDC alleges subsidy return; Makinde campaign calls N60 reduction deceitful• ‘What happens on Day 31?’ Atiku asks

From** Adesuwa Tsan **and Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

Opposition parties and presidential campaigns have criticised the Federal Government’s proposed 30-day petrol discount, dismissing it as temporary relief designed to win political support ahead of the 2027 elections.

The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) accused the administration of attempting to restore subsidy through the backdoor, while African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, questioned what would happen when the discount expires. The Makinde-Daura Presidential Campaign Organisation described the offer as deceitful and inadequate.

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, had announced that petrol would be sold at a discount at Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) retail outlets for 30 days, with priority given to public transporters nationwide.

He maintained that the intervention was not a subsidy but a decision to sell the product at cost.

However, in separate statements on Thursday, the opposition questioned the duration and reach of the offer, its impact on transport fares and its capacity to provide lasting relief for households and businesses.

NDC National Publicity Secretary, Osa Director, described the measure as “tokenism and deceit,” arguing that it could not reverse the consequences of subsidy removal.

“This is nothing but tokenism and a Greek gift from a government that whimsically removed fuel subsidy without proper consideration, consultation, or cushions for Nigerians,” the party said.

“Nigerians cannot be deceived.”

The NDC questioned what the administration intended to do about Nigerians whose livelihoods had been affected by the policy.

“What happens to the millions of Nigerians who lost their jobs and whose businesses collapsed as a result of the callous and poorly planned removal of subsidy?” it asked.

The party also challenged the practicality of restricting discounted sales to designated NNPC outlets, warning that the arrangement could create congestion and safety concerns.

“Even the bogus promise to dispense discounted fuel at designated NNPC retail outlets is not pragmatic. How many such outlets exist in Nigeria to serve over 200 million Nigerians?” it asked.

“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.”

The NDC urged Nigerians to support its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and other party candidates, promising that an Obi administration would put Nigeria “back on the right track.”

In his reaction, Atiku described the offer as a “panic-driven publicity stunt” that would leave Nigerians facing the same hardship once the discount ended.

In a statement issued by the Director of Strategic Communication of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, Phrank Shaibu, the former vice president said the intervention was “a desperate, temporary gesture that cannot repair the damage caused by the crushing cost of fuel.”

He described it as “not an economic plan but a political bandage on a wound the government had helped create.”

“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 said.

“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.”

Atiku questioned the restriction of the offer to NNPC stations, the pricing details and the absence of guarantees that savings enjoyed by transport operators would translate into lower passenger fares.

He argued that the intervention demonstrated the feasibility of his proposal for support tied to domestic fuel production.

“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,” the statement said.

He reiterated his call for capped and budgeted production support tied to petrol refined in Nigeria, with safeguards to ensure that the benefits reach consumers and support local refining.

“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.

For its part, the Makinde-Daura Presidential Campaign Organisation, campaigning for the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), described what it said was a N60 discount as an “offensive and provocative attempt to beguile Nigerians.”

In a statement by its Director of Strategic Communications, Richard Ihediwa, the organisation said Nigerians deserved a meaningful reduction in petrol prices rather than a temporary concession ahead of the elections.

“It is a slap on 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 ₦60,” it said.

The campaign argued that the size of the reduction, its restriction to NNPC outlets and its one-month duration would limit its impact.

“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,” it said.

It also criticised what it described as an offer to sell crude oil to domestic refineries at $80 per barrel, arguing that the arrangement did not reflect Nigeria’s position as an oil-producing country.

The campaign urged Nigerians to support APM presidential candidate, Seyi Makinde, promising an administration that would “effectively and transparently harness and utilise our natural resources, for the benefit of all.”

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