The presidential candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), Peter Agada, has ruled out restoring petrol subsidy if elected president in the 2027 general elections, saying he would retain the policy introduced by President Bola Tinubu.
Agada made this known on Friday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, where he outlined his approach to addressing Nigeria’s revenue and expenditure challenges.
Tinubu announced the removal of petrol subsidy during his inauguration on May 29, 2023, a decision that led to higher petrol prices and increased the cost of goods and services.
While some presidential hopefuls, including African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate Atiku Abubakar, have advocated restoring the subsidy to reduce fuel costs and ease economic hardship, Agada said his administration would maintain its removal.
“I will stick to the gun with the present administration. We will remove subsidy the way they have done,” he said.
The YPP candidate argued that Nigeria’s economic challenges were not solely a consequence of subsidy removal but were also linked to how the country manages oil revenues and the expenses incurred in producing crude oil.
Citing remarks by the Minister of State for Finance, Taiwo Oyedele, Agada questioned how much revenue the Federal Government actually retains from crude oil production after royalties and other deductions.
He argued that the amount left for the government was insufficient to meet the country’s needs, despite its oil production capacity.
Agada said his administration would scrutinise the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) system to identify waste and improve government revenue.
“We want to interrogate that system because we think that the wastage and majority of the challenges Nigeria is facing in terms of lower revenue is coming from that whole regime or that system that Nigeria practices,” he said.
He maintained that the system had been faulty from its inception and required reforms to address inefficiencies.
Agada acknowledged that Nigeria faced both revenue and expenditure problems but said excessive or inefficient spending was the more pressing concern.
He argued that improving public expenditure management and plugging leakages would be central to addressing the country’s economic difficulties without reversing the petrol subsidy removal policy.
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