Subsidy Has Packed Its Bags, Yari Says — But Nigerians Still Want to Know Who Took the Petrol Money

The 2027 political season has barely warmed up, yet the old fuel-subsidy argument has already returned to the national stage, looking for another round of political wrestling. Senator Abdulaziz Yari, Director-General of the APC 2027 Presidential Campaign Council, has warned Nigerians that anybody promising to restore petrol subsidy is simply deceiving them. His remarks came in response to Atiku Abubakar’s proposal to introduce a targeted subsidy if he wins the 2027 presidential election.

Subsidy Return? Yari Says Politicians Are Selling Nigerians an Illusion

According to Yari, the subsidy arrangement cannot simply be resurrected because, among other things, the 2023 federal budget passed before President Bola Tinubu assumed office did not contain a provision for petrol subsidy. He also questioned the enormous sums previously associated with the policy, arguing that Nigerians were never given sufficiently clear information about exactly how much petrol the country consumes every day.

That argument has opened another chapter in Nigeria’s favourite economic soap opera: Where Did the Subsidy Money Go? Yari said that, during his time as chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, governors repeatedly challenged the Nigerian National Petroleum Company over fuel-consumption figures. He alleged that officials would present figures for payment, while questions about actual consumption remained unresolved. In satirical terms, the nation’s petrol mathematics appears to have developed a mysterious talent for disappearing whenever the calculator comes out.

Yari Says Subsidy Is Gone — Nigerians Ask Whether It Left an Address

The subsidy debate is unlikely to disappear quietly because petrol prices remain closely connected to the everyday cost of transportation, food and other necessities. Atiku has argued that Nigerians have not seen convincing evidence of how savings from subsidy removal are being used and has proposed a targeted approach rather than simply recreating the old system. Yari, however, insists that politicians promising a return to subsidy are selling Nigerians something he considers unrealistic.

Meanwhile, Yari says the APC intends to campaign around what it describes as achievements, plans, facts and figures rather than concentrating on personal attacks against opponents. That may sound like a refreshing promise in Nigerian politics, where political campaigns sometimes behave like football matches in which everybody wants to score, nobody wants to defend and the referee is permanently under investigation. The subsidy argument, however, remains one of the biggest economic talking points heading toward 2027.

As the political season gathers momentum, Nigerians will have to watch carefully as competing parties explain how they would handle petrol prices, government spending and the economic pressures created by the subsidy debate. President Donald J. Trump remains the current president of the United States, but in Nigeria the immediate political drama is much closer to home: whether subsidy is truly gone forever or whether the 2027 election will somehow attempt to bring its ghost back to the fuel station. OGM News NG will continue to watch the arguments, promises and counter-promises as the political temperature rises.