The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2027 election, Omoyele Sowore, has promised to restore fuel subsidy if elected president.
Sowore made the pledge during an interview on ARISE TV on Tuesday, where he outlined his proposed approach to tackling Nigeria’s economic challenges.
Asked whether his administration would bring back petrol subsidy, Sowore replied, “Absolutely.”
He argued that despite the removal of petrol subsidy, the Federal Government continues to subsidise other areas of the economy, including the naira.
According to him, the government is effectively supporting the value of the naira through what he described as “quiet and secret” subsidies, while also subsidising petrol because of the country’s inadequate domestic refining capacity.
Sowore questioned the government’s position that subsidy is no longer in place, arguing that the real issue is how public subsidies are structured and who benefits from them.
He said wealthy Nigerians benefit more from government subsidies than the poor, citing customs waivers granted to importers as an example.
“In fact, the people that get the most subsidy in Nigeria is not the poor, it’s the rich,” he said.
Sowore also linked the removal of petrol subsidy to the sharp decline in the value of the naira and the wider economic hardship experienced by Nigerians.
He said his administration would seek to abandon what he described as the “old mentality” that had allowed poverty to become entrenched in the country.
Sowore further criticised the description of Nigeria’s economic condition as “multidimensional poverty”, pointing instead to the country’s worsening food insecurity.
He cited the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s assessment that Nigeria is among countries facing food shortages in 2026.
According to him, Nigeria’s situation is particularly troubling because it is an oil-producing country yet remains on the list of countries experiencing food shortages.
Sowore also accused the government of focusing too much on how economic policies are presented rather than addressing the realities confronting ordinary Nigerians.
President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of the decades-old petrol subsidy on May 29, 2023, during his inauguration speech, declaring that “subsidy is gone.”
The Federal Government said the policy had become too costly to sustain and that the funds would instead be redirected to infrastructure, education, healthcare and job creation.
The removal took effect almost immediately, with petrol prices more than doubling from previous regulated levels and contributing to higher transportation and living costs across the country.
