In my earlier writeup, “The Fuel Subsidy Question,” I asked:
“If Nigerians have sacrificed through the removal of petrol subsidy, where is the dividend of that sacrifice?”
That question remains unanswered, and may not be satisfactorily answered.
But there is a bigger question. How much should Nigerians pay for energy in a country blessed with crude oil, gas, sunshine, rivers, and enormous human resources?
For decades, Nigeria has treated energy as just another commodity to be taxed and sold. We disagree.
Energy is the foundation of an economy. When diesel becomes expensive, factories become expensive to run, and food becomes expensive to move. When petrol becomes expensive, transportation becomes expensive. When Jet A1 becomes expensive, flying from Lagos to Abuja becomes a luxury. When cooking gas becomes expensive, the household pays for a policy failure in the kitchen. In other words, when energy is expensive, everything becomes expensive
A nation cannot industrialise when its manufacturers must generate their own electricity. A farmer cannot be competitive when moving his produce consumes its value. A small business cannot grow when powering its shop competes with paying its workers. This is why Nigeria cannot build a productive economy on expensive energy.
For almost twenty-five years Nigeria paid for a broken subsidy system. The Federal Government records show that over N16.5 trillion naira was spent on petrol subsidy since 1999. In 2011 alone, N2.1 trillion was spent, that was more than half the federal budget that year.
If those payments were full of fraud, where is the accounting for that fraud? Who took it? How much was recovered? Who was held responsible?
And there is another subsidy Nigerians pay that no government accounts for.
In 2023 alone, Nigerians spent N16.5 trillion buying diesel, petrol and generators to power their own homes and factories. This is according to federal government data.That means in one year, Nigerians spent on generators what the Nigeria government purportedly spent on petrol subsidy in twenty-four years.
That is the cost of darkness. That is the cost of an economy that runs on generators instead of electricity. Factories, hospitals, schools, shops and homes – all paying twice for power that should be once. When I say expensive energy is the foundation of expensive everything, this is what I mean.
A government that makes electricity reliable will return that N16.5 trillion annually to Nigerian families and factories. That is money that can build homes, pay workers, fund vacation, and make food cheaper.
Therefore, the current political debate of whether fuel subsidy should return or stay removed is too narrow. It simply tells us that those who have been holding the country down in the past forty years, especially the past twenty-five years, whether they once held office, currently hold office or waiting on the sideline to return to power, represent the same system of backwardness.
One says subsidy should return. Another says it must never return. Another promises N605 per litre. They are all arguing about the price tag on a broken system.
We will fix the system. We will not make attempt to amend the broken system and make it more efficient, we will fix it, reform it and transform the system.
We produce crude oil. We must refine it in Nigeria. We must ensure reliable crude supply to refineries, create competition among refineries, strengthen pipelines and storage and eliminate the unnecessary costs loaded onto every litre.
We will establish a transparent framework that publishes the real cost of petrol from crude to pump. Nigerians should pay the efficient cost of production, not the cost of inefficiency and corruption.
Where temporary support is necessary, it will be open, budgeted and independently audited. But our destination will always be the same – petrol becomes cheaper because it costs less to produce in Nigeria.
The same will be true for diesel, for aviation fuel and for household energy.
Diesel is not a luxury. It is what powers production. We will reduce its cost and reduce the economy’s dependence on it by making electricity reliable.
Jet A1 is not a luxury. An economy as large as Nigeria should not make domestic flights affordable only for the wealthy.
Cooking gas is not a luxury and should never be seen as one. No family should spend a disproportionate share of its income simply to cook. Energy policy must have the Nigerian household at its centre.
But the biggest energy reform of our reform is electricity.
The cheapest petrol for any business is the litre it does not need because it has light.
If factories have reliable electricity, diesel falls. If hospitals and schools have reliable electricity, their costs fall. If homes have reliable electricity, generator dependence falls.
Therefore electricity will be at the centre of our economic transformation.
And we will change who owns and who refines.
For several decades Nigerians were told NNPCL belongs to them, but in the real sense, it belongs to a few elites. Under a CDA government, it truly will belong to the people. We will list NNPCL on the Nigerian Exchange so ordinary Nigerians can own a stake and become shareholders in their petroleum wealth. What belongs to the people must be owned and watched by the people.
And we will break the monopoly on refining. We will promote modular refineries across the country, owned by Nigerian investors, cooperatives and states. We will not build an economy where one refinery determines whether 220 million people can move. Competition will drive efficiency, and efficiency will drive affordability.
We will not subsidise inefficiency. We will not subsidise corruption, smuggling or monopoly. We will not subsidise dependence. We will subsidise transformation.
We will invest in making energy cheaper to produce, not in permanently paying for an expensive system.
And we will open the books.
Nigerians will know how much crude is produced, how much is stolen, how much is exported, how much goes to refineries, how much it costs to refine and transport, and what the consumer finally pays.
So how much should Nigerians pay for energy under a CDA government?
Our answer is not an arbitrary political figure.
Our principle is that Nigerians should not pay more than the efficient cost of producing, refining and delivering energy in Nigeria, plus a reasonable and transparent margin.
As refining expands, as modular refineries grow, as NNPCL becomes owned by Nigerians, as electricity becomes reliable and transportation becomes cheaper, the need for any intervention will reduce.
The destination is cheaper energy without permanent dependence. The destination is Nigeria where crude is refined in Nigeria, where factories have electricity, where food and other goods move cheaply, where a family can afford cooking gas, and where the wealth under your soil makes life affordable for you.
For almost forty years Nigerians have been told to sacrifice today for tomorrow. Nigerians have sacrificed. It is time for a government that honours that sacrifice.
Imagine a Nigeria under CDA leadership: a Nigeria where crude is refined in Nigeria, where factories have light, where food moves cheaply, where a family can afford cooking gas, and where the wealth under your soil makes life affordable for you. That Nigeria is inevitable.
Let’s Work To Make Nigeria Work.
Tamunotonye S S Inioribo
Founder & National Chairman
Citizens Democratic Alliance
27 August 2026