Adewole Adebayo, presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), says he will reduce the prices of petrol, cooking gas and aviation fuel, also known as Jet A1, to N200 per litre if elected president in 2027.
Speaking in Abuja on Sunday in an interview with NAN, Adebayo said the proposed pricing regime would be implemented within 12 months of taking office.
He said his administration would revive Nigeria’s existing refineries and encourage the operation of modular refineries as part of the plan to reduce dependence on imported refined products.
The SDP candidate said the age of the country’s refineries should not be a barrier to their rehabilitation, noting that some refineries in the United States that are more than 100 years old are still operational.
“SDP will pick cooking gas, petrol and Jet A1; those three, we will put them under a regime where the price does not go past N200,” he said.
Adebayo said the proposed arrangement would also involve restoring what he described as the original subsidy regime, under which 450,000 barrels of crude oil are reserved for domestic consumption.
He said the crude oil would be refined locally, while products such as naphtha, heavy fuel oil, diesel and kerosene would be sold and the proceeds used to maintain the proposed price regime.
He said the SDP would work with the national assembly to establish the mechanism for applying revenue from the other petroleum derivatives to support the pricing arrangement.
Adebayo argued that Nigeria should be focusing on building sufficient domestic refining capacity instead of importing refined petroleum products at international prices.
He said the country already had two major advantages for achieving this — its crude oil resources and existing refining infrastructure.
The SDP presidential candidate said the subsidy debate had diverted attention from the more fundamental problems in Nigeria’s petroleum industry.
He also rejected the argument that removing petrol subsidy by itself would resolve the country’s fiscal problems, describing that position as a “red herring”.
Adebayo said Nigerians would not have to contend with petrol subsidy under an SDP government, arguing that subsidy should not be regarded as a government economic programme.
Beyond fuel prices, he proposed a transportation policy that would combine cheaper petroleum products with expanded public transport and rail services.
He said workers and students would be able to access public transportation using employment and student identification cards, while employers would contribute six percent of workers’ salaries towards transportation.
According to Adebayo, the measures would bring down transportation costs and stimulate economic activity.
He also proposed limiting housing costs to seven percent of workers’ salaries, alongside free education and healthcare.
“The summary of it is that transportation costs cannot go more than six percent of your salary and housing costs should not be more than seven percent of your salary, education and healthcare should be free,” he said.
Adebayo said agriculture and food security would also be priorities under his administration as part of efforts to make food more affordable.
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