Seyi Makinde, presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), has rejected the return of petrol subsidy, saying efforts should instead be directed towards reducing the cost of petrol for Nigerians.
Makinde, who is also the governor of Oyo, spoke on Monday at the commissioning of the APM presidential campaign office in Abuja.
He was addressing reactions to his recent newsletter, in which he outlined his position on the petrol subsidy debate and his Reset Nigeria Agenda.
In the newsletter issued on Thursday, Makinde said Nigerians were asking the wrong questions in the debate over the gains from subsidy removal.
He said rather than framing the issue as a choice between subsidising petroleum products and allowing Nigerians to pay the full market price, attention should be focused on how petrol prices are determined in an oil-producing country such as Nigeria.
The governor said his position had been misconstrued by some Nigerians as a call for the return of subsidy.
“That is not my position,” he said.
“Let me explain my position very simply with this example. If a community grows food, the people of that community should not have to buy that food as though it travelled halfway around the world before reaching them.”
He questioned why crude oil supplied to Nigerian refineries should be priced as though the country does not produce crude oil, saying that Nigeria’s oil must provide a real and measurable benefit to Nigerians.
“That benefit should be built into the system from the beginning, through the price at which crude oil is supplied for domestic refining, not through an opaque intervention at the petrol pump after all the costs, inefficiencies and distortions have been added,” he said.
The governor noted that there should also be greater transparency in the petroleum value chain to enable Nigerians understand how the pump price of petrol is determined.
“Nigerians must be able to see how the final price is reached. We need complete transparency across the petroleum value chain—from production and domestic crude allocation to refining, transportation, distribution, taxes and retail margins,” he said.
“Nigerians should know what they are paying for, who receives what and where inefficiencies are increasing the final price.”
This, he said, captures the essence of his Reset Nigeria Agenda, urging the citizens to participate in the proposed conversation.
“We are opening another door for Nigerians to join the conversation about the future of our country,” he said.
“A conversation about what must change. A conversation about how we can make Nigeria work for every Nigerian. That is what Reset Nigeria is about.”
The APM presidential candidate dismissed insinuations that he is an underdog in the presidential race, saying the strength of his campaign would come from Nigerians who shared his vision.
“Our voices count. Our experiences count. Our ideas count. And, together, our votes will count,” he said.
“They may discount one candidate. But they cannot discount millions of Nigerians united behind a better future. Let us build a country in which government is transparent, leadership is accountable and Nigeria’s resources work for the Nigerian people.”
His remarks come amid the ongoing subsidy removal controversy which intensified in recent weeks with opposition presidential candidates, including Atiku Abubakar, president candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), criticising the Bola Tinubu administration over its handling of the funds saved from subsidy removal.
On August 19, Taiwo Oyedele, minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, said the removal of the subsidy had mobilised N15.8 trillion for the federation between June 2023 and December 2025.
