Tinubu Shifts Stance on Fuel Affordability, Now Agrees With Atiku on Cheaper Energy

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has shifted his stance on fuel affordability, now agreeing with opposition figure Atiku Abubakar that Nigerians need cheaper energy and transportation, though the two differ sharply on how to achieve it. Last week, Atiku, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, promised to restore the petrol subsidy, a move that rattled Tinubu because it opened a policy flank on which the president is acutely vulnerable. Tinubu initially derided Atiku's proposal as evidence of "serious ignorance" of governance and economics, but this week he began talking about the imperative to lower transportation costs and make Nigerians benefit from cheaper fuel.

After meeting governors this week, Tinubu announced an accelerated rollout of compressed natural gas (CNG) infrastructure and said, We have agreed that cheaper fuel should result in cheaper fares! His government wants lower transport fares from October 1. Atiku wants to achieve affordability through petrol subsidy; Tinubu wants to achieve it through CNG and state intervention in transport fares.