The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of turning a petrol discount into a political spectacle at NNPC Limited’s expense.
The former vice president reminded President Tinubu that the petroleum corporation was no longer the NNPC of the old, but now a quoted limited liability company, according to the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
He said the PIA established the petroleum company to operate as a public liability-quoted company.
In a statement issued by the Director of Strategic Communication of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said: “Tinubu wants Nigerians to cheer for ₦66 off a litre before they ask who ordered NNPC to surrender the money. He wants credit for the discount without showing the board approval, the cost or the account that will carry it. Nigerians are not so desperate for relief that they have forgotten how to ask a simple question: who pays for Tinubu’s applause?
“NNPC Limited is no longer the old NNPC corporation. The Petroleum Industry Act established it to operate as a commercial company. Yet the Presidency announces a discount, claims the applause and tells NNPC to surrender its margin. Is the government exercising its rights as shareholders through proper corporate channels, or treating NNPC Limited as a drawer of campaign money it can open whenever an election approaches?
“When Nigerians demand affordable petrol, Tinubu’s officials deliver a lecture about market forces. They say prices cannot be wished down. But when Tinubu needs a headline, the Presidency reaches into NNPC’s margin and calls it relief. Apparently, the market is sacred until the president needs applause”
Atiku questioned where Nigerians are supposed to find the relief when the NNPC Retail has just over 900 stations for a country of roughly 242 million people?
“That is a narrow network for a national promise. Motorists are already queuing at some outlets. Must a driver burn petrol travelling to an NNPC station, spend time in a queue, download an app and pay through it to save ₦66 on each litre? How much of the savings survives the journey?
“What happens to the family whose nearest NNPC station is miles away? What happens when a station runs out of petrol? Tinubu announces relief for the whole country, then delivers it through a fraction of its filling stations. A press release can reach every Nigerian in a second. His discount cannot.
“Where is NNPC’s board in this performance? Did it approve the decision before the Presidency announced it? What figures did it examine? What margin will the company forgo, and where will that cost appear in its accounts? Or was the board expected to discover its decision in the government’s press release?
“The administration says this is not a subsidy. Changing the name of a cost does not make it disappear.
He said after mocking the proposal for a transparent production subsidy, Tinubu turned around and borrowed its central lesson that Nigerians needed targeted relief.
Chuks Okocha in Abuja
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