Presidential aide Sunday Dare has described former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s recent criticism of the Federal Government’s fuel price modulation framework as “economic illiteracy,” accusing the opposition politician of exploiting Nigerians’ economic hardship for political gain ahead of the 2027 elections.
Dare in an article published on Sunday, said Atiku’s press conference attacking NNPC Retail’s 30-day petrol discount and the government’s modulation framework was “a seminal example of shallow, election-laced demagoguery.”
He said the former vice president, whom he described as “totally unplugged from global realities and consumed by an unbridled lust for power,” was acting as a “Lone Ranger.”
According to Dare, other world leaders are adopting similar interventions to cushion citizens from global energy shocks. He cited the United Kingdom, where Prime Minister Andy Burnham offered Britons a Google Maps link to compare petrol prices, and the United States, where President Trump signed an executive order titled “Emergency Tax Relief on Diesel Fuel” on October 5, 2026.
“In close to 10 other countries, leaders are employing various means to provide relief for citizens. But in Nigeria, a President offers the same, and a misguided presidential candidate chooses to dance on the sufferings of Nigerians and exploit it for political gains,” Dare said.
The presidential adviser said Atiku’s proposal for a blanket “production subsidy” is “not an alternative economic model—it is a dangerous mathematical fantasy wrapped in political deceit.”
Citing Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance Taiwo Oyedele, Dare explained that Nigeria produces about 1.8 million barrels of crude oil per day for a population of over 200 million, but insisted the Federal Government does not directly own all of that volume.
He said that under Joint Ventures and Production Sharing Contracts signed over decades, production costs, royalties, and profit-oil sharing ratios severely reduce the equity crude available to the state, leaving Nigeria with fewer than 700,000 barrels per day of unencumbered “free crude.”
Dare added that mega-refineries like the Dangote Petroleum Refinery require feedstock far exceeding what the state can freely provide without breaching international supply contracts or bankrupting national revenues, forcing domestic refiners to import crude from international markets.
“To propose a blanket ‘targeted production subsidy’ on crude without the physical, unencumbered volume to back it up is pure economic illiteracy. It invites the very opacity, fraudulent round-tripping, and fiscal haemorrhage that crippled Nigeria for decades under the old subsidy regime,” he warned.
He compared Nigeria’s situation with the United States, which produces over 10 million barrels per day for 330 million people yet sells petroleum at market-determined prices, and Qatar, which holds some of the world’s largest gas reserves for under 500,000 citizens yet cut energy subsidies to maintain long-term fiscal health.
He also dismissed the analogy comparing local crude allocation to agricultural produce like garri or cassava, saying it misrepresents global commodity markets and contractual energy economics.
Price Modulation, Not Subsidy — Dare
Dare rejected Atiku’s framing of NNPC Retail’s decision to forgo its profit margin as a “return to the fuel subsidy,” describing it as a deliberate mischaracterisation designed to mislead the public.
“NNPC had offered the discount to celebrate the 66th Independence anniversary. It merely offered to extend the discount by another 30 days,” he clarified.
He explained that the administration’s intervention is a “market-smoothing price modulation framework, not a return to unbudgeted federal spending,” adding that NNPC Retail is leveraging its corporate balance sheet to absorb short-term global volatility, backed directly by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Dare further stated that the Federal Government’s negotiation of an interim N1,350 per litre ceiling on ex-gantry costs is “a structural shock absorber, not price control,” under which refiners and importers absorb short-term cost spikes above the ceiling and recover them later when global crude prices cool or exchange rates adjust.
“N1,400 today and N1,400 tomorrow provides far greater economic stability than N1,500 today and N1,300 tomorrow,” he said, adding that the ceiling protects commuters from permanent transport fare hikes and is reviewed monthly based on published cost audits.
Administration’s Structural Interventions Listed
Dare outlined what he called the administration’s multi-pronged economic approach, including a state-backed strategic energy reserve, rapid expansion of Compressed Natural Gas infrastructure in partnership with state governments, naira-for-crude arrangements, windfall taxes on energy operators, enforcement of the 2025 tax reform laws, and the use of NIPOST digital address codes to reduce freight and food distribution costs.
He said CNG, at 60-70 per cent cheaper than premium motor spirit, offers a permanent structural alternative for commercial transporters.
Reform Dividends Since 2023
The presidential aide listed what he described as the dividends of the Tinubu reforms since 2023, including the permanent stoppage of the multi-trillion-naira subsidy drain, record federal allocations to the 36 states and local governments through FAAC, the eradication of multi-day fuel queues, and the elimination of the gap between official and parallel exchange rates.
He said the administration also redirected funds into direct cash transfers for millions of vulnerable households, subsidised credit for micro and small enterprises, and enhanced wage awards for civil servants, rather than subsidising the fuel tanks of wealthy SUV owners.
On infrastructure, Dare cited the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway, and nationwide rail networks as projects building the backbone required for single-digit inflation and sustained industrial growth.
“Atiku’s narrative asks Nigerians to forget the unsustainable fiscal precipice the nation faced before May 2023. The courageous removal of the toxic fuel subsidy and the unification of the distorted foreign exchange market were not choices of convenience; they were surgical interventions required to save the Nigerian economy from total collapse,” he said.
‘Sophistication Over Demagoguery’
Dare accused Atiku of insulting the Nigerian electorate by equating complex economic governance with an exam paper copied by a “dull student.”
“The alternative Atiku offers—resurrecting opaque subsidy regimes under the guise of ‘production subsidies’ without the crude volumes to back them—is the exact road to ruin that almost brought Nigeria to its knees before May 2023,” he said.
He maintained that President Tinubu’s administration has chosen “the hard, courageous, and necessary path” by coupling market deregulation with targeted price-smoothing mechanisms, strategic reserves, rapid CNG rollout, and disciplined fiscal management.
“The Nigerian electorate is far too sophisticated to trade long-term national economic security for Atiku’s shallow, short-term demagoguery,” Dare concluded.
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