Alake takes swipe at Atiku over petrol subsidy proposal

The minister of solid minerals development and the spokesperson of APC Presidential Council Dr Dele Alake has thrown a challenge to former vice president Atiku Abubakar who is also the presidential candidate of African Democratic Congress (ADC) over the latter’s legal basis for his proposal for locally refined petrol which he said would reduce pump prices.

In a statement he signed on Sunday, Alake took a swipe at an earlier press conference granted by Atiku on Friday in which he reiterated his proposal.

The presidential candidate of ADC had noted that his proposal would reduce pump prices, just as he went ahead to ask President Bola Tinubu to slash the cost of diesel and petrol at the pump.

But in a reaction on Sunday, Alake said the proposal raises important legal, fiscal and practical questions that he must answer.

According to him, “Section 205(1) of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 provides that unrestricted free-market conditions shall determine wholesale and retail prices of petroleum products.

“Atiku should therefore explain whether a refinery receiving his proposed subsidy would be required to sell petrol at a prescribed price. If the answer is yes, he should identify the legal framework under which the government would impose that price condition and explain how it would operate consistently with the Petroleum Industry Act.

“If the answer is no, he should explain how public support to refiners would guarantee lower prices at filling stations.”

Alake said if Atiku’s proposal is allowed to fly without an enforceable mechanism, refiners could receive the benefit while consumers continued to pay market prices.

“Atiku must also disclose the cost of his proposal and how he would fund it. His earlier statement suggested that the intervention could take the form of preferentially priced crude for domestic refineries.

“Any discount on crude would reduce the value accruing to the federation and, consequently, the revenue available to the federal, state and local governments, triggering afresh the fiscal crisis that made 27 states unable to pay salaries and pensions before President Tinubu assumed office in 2023,” he countered Atiku.

According to Alake, until Atiku provides Nigerians with a detailed policy document and an independent legal and fiscal analysis of his proposal, his production-subsidy plan remains an uncosted promise without a clearly identified legal or operational framework.

“It will also qualify as one of those fantasies and policy options anchored on what President Olusegun Obasanjo described in his book, My Watch, as Atiku’s ‘propensity for poor judgment,’” he said.