The founder and former national chairman of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Chief Ralf Okay Nwosu, has declared that the fuel subsidy policy of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress, APC, has failed Nigerians.
Nwosu made the remarks during an appearance on Arise News Daybreak on Thursday, August 27, 2026. He later shared a clip of the interview on X.
He said the past four years had brought waste among public officials, joblessness, insecurity, hardship and a poorer citizenry, arguing that the country needed a different economic direction.
According to him, Atiku Abubakar, the ADC presidential candidate for the 2027 election, is offering a stronger alternative built around production, job creation and the welfare of ordinary Nigerians.
During the interview, the anchors asked Nwosu to state the pump price Nigerians should expect under an Atiku led government.
Nwosu declined to give a figure, saying it would be reckless to announce a price before the details of the policy and economic conditions were properly worked out.
He said the sudden announcement of fuel subsidy removal on May 29, 2023 was not sufficiently thought through and did not treat Nigerians as partners in the decision.
Nwosu compared the policy to a school suddenly increasing its fees by more than five times without first warning or consulting parents.
He said that was effectively how the government treated Nigerian citizens when the subsidy was removed.
Nwosu also accused sections of the political, business and media elite of defending a policy whose impact is being felt most heavily by ordinary families.
He described the situation as elite hypocrisy and said some people had gone as far as questioning whether a fuel subsidy ever existed.
He insisted that ADC and Atiku would not repeat what he described as the recklessness of the ruling party.
According to him, every policy introduced by an ADC government would have to be monitored, checked and judged by one basic question: whether it improves the lives of Nigerians.
Nwosu said Atiku would sign a contract with the Nigerian people when the main campaign officially begins.
He explained that the current period is only the beginning of the campaign, while the proposed agreement would eventually spell out what Nigerians should expect from a new government.
He said the pact would include the expected price of fuel by May 29 after a change of government, as well as details of how the policy would be implemented.
Nwosu also disclosed that the campaign team is already working on a first 100 days programme to ensure that Atiku’s campaign does not become a collection of empty promises.
He said the ADC’s approach puts the welfare of Nigerians first and requires major economic policies to be discussed with relevant stakeholders.
He added that members of the team had already met with transport operators to understand the effect of fuel prices on transportation and household costs.
The Atiku camp has sought to distinguish its proposal from the old fuel import subsidy.
Rather than returning to a system in which government funds could be claimed around imported petrol, the camp says any support should be directed towards petrol actually refined in Nigeria.
The argument is that government support should follow barrels refined locally rather than paper claims made by middlemen.
The proposal is therefore being presented as support for local refining and domestic production rather than a return to the former import subsidy system.
Government officials, however, have rejected that argument and continue to defend the removal of the subsidy.
They say the policy, although painful for Nigerians in the early stages, has increased the money available to federal and state governments.
According to government supporters, the additional revenue has helped governments meet salary obligations and finance public projects.
They also warn that bringing back a fuel subsidy could reopen the waste, fraud and leakages associated with the old system.
Government officials have put the potential annual cost of restoring a subsidy in the trillions of naira.
They have also accused Atiku of changing his position after previously supporting the removal of the subsidy.
The dispute is now shaping up as one of the major economic issues ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
At the heart of the debate is whether Nigeria should maintain the current fuel pricing system, or introduce a new form of targeted support that lowers the burden on consumers while encouraging local refining and production.
For ADC, the promise is that any future intervention must be designed around Nigerian families, domestic production and job creation.
For the government, the central argument is that removing the subsidy was necessary to protect public finances and end a system it considers wasteful and vulnerable to fraud.
The final details of the ADC proposal, including its cost, funding source, expected pump price and safeguards against abuse, are expected to become clearer when Atiku and the party formally unveil their campaign programme.
