Minister of Petroleum, Lokpobiri, responds to Atiku, Obi on call for return of subsidies

Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (oil), has responded to calls by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and former Anambra Governor, Peter Obi to restore petrol subsidies.

The minister, who criticized the position of the two presidential candidates who expressed support for fuel subsidies, described the policy as financially unsustainable for Nigeria.

Lokpobiri spoke on Friday during a breakfast meeting with media practitioners in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), said he would restore petrol subsidies if elected president in 2027.

Meanwhile, Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC), also said his government would restore petroleum subsidies after eliminating corruption in the country.

Speaking at the event, Lokpobiri criticized the position of the two opposition presidential candidates who expressed support for fuel subsidies.

“Where does the money come from?” he asked.

“The money is expected to come from the same oil sector.”

Lokpobiri said the subsidy regime consumes resources that the country can no longer afford to spend on keeping fuel prices low.

“The point I want to make is that if a decision on eliminating subsidies is not taken, Nigeria will become like Venezuela,” the minister said.

“Gosh, even Nigerians like Venezuela wouldn’t be able to gather here like we are gathering now. Venezuelans are even queuing to buy bread. That’s the level of poverty.”

He said that when President Bola Tinubu took office, the federal government was projected to spend about N18.4 billion daily on petrol subsidy payments, citing figures previously presented to the national assembly by Zainab Ahmed, former finance minister.

Lokpobiri also attributed the financial weakness of the defunct Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), partly to the subsidy regime, and said the oil company was experiencing financial difficulties before its transformation into NNPC Limited.

“You remember that NNPC never paid any dividend. NNPC never made any profit at all. All they did was ship crude oil and ship refined products. NNPC was the only importer of refined products,” he said.

“If you say you own 60 percent of the business, you also have to pay 60 percent of the costs of doing that. That’s a cash call.

“But before this government came, NNPC could not pay cash. Currently, NNPC has no cash debt.”