- AAC presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore has promised to restore fuel subsidy if elected president, saying the policy is not inherently bad but must be properly administered.
- He also criticised the current economic direction, linking subsidy removal to naira depreciation and worsening hardship while calling for policies that directly address poverty and food insecurity.
Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has promised to restore fuel subsidy if elected president, arguing that subsidy itself is not the problem but the way it is administered.
Sowore made the statement during an interview while discussing his plans for Nigeria’s economy ahead of the election.
Asked if he would bring back fuel subsidy, the AAC candidate replied, “I would bring back subsidy.”
According to Sowore, the Federal Government is still effectively subsidising parts of the economy despite the removal of petrol subsidy, saying the policy has only been given different descriptions.
“In the first place, they’re still paying subsidy. They just change the name of what they call it. They’re subsidizing not only petrol, because they don’t have enough, you know, they can’t produce locally,” he said.
Sowore also claimed that the government was subsidising the naira, arguing that the practice is rarely acknowledged.
“They’re also subsidizing the Naira. That’s one thing they will never tell you. The reason the Naira is at a certain, you know, rate to a dollar, is because it’s been quietly and secretly subsidized,” he said.
The activist further linked the removal of fuel subsidy to the country’s economic challenges, including the depreciation of the naira.
“And you saw what happened. Immediately you remove subsidy, look at where your economy tanked. Your Naira also went down, it toilet,” Sowore said.
He maintained that subsidy should not automatically be regarded as a bad policy, arguing that governments have a responsibility to provide support for vulnerable citizens.
“Whatever everybody has agreed happened to subsidy is not that subsidy is bad, because there’s no country in the world that don’t subsidize their poor,” he said.
Sowore also criticised Nigeria’s rising poverty and food insecurity, insisting that the country needs to move away from policies that have contributed to its economic difficulties.
“Optics don’t feed people,” he added.
