If Elected President, I Will Scrap Fuel Subsidy; Fix Nigeria’s Debt Mess- Atiku

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has promised to engage creditors to seek “cancellation or forgiveness” to address the country’s foreign debt profile.

Abubakar said this on Tuesday at the Lagos Business School 2022 alumni day, while speaking on a range of economic issues in Nigeria, as well as his recovery plan for the country if elected president.

He also described the controversial petrol subsidy as a “fraud” and pledged to scrap it.

Abubakar said the economic gains of the PDP between 1999 to 2007 included debt cancellation, privatisation, banking reforms, and an effective working partnership with the private sector.

The presidential hopeful described Nigeria’s debt situation as “a mess”, and promised fix it if elected.

“I was the chairman for the removal of the fuel subsidy committee and I recall how we removed phase 1 and phase 2 of the fuel subsidy. I will continue from where we stopped, remove fuel subsidy totally and channel the subsidy funds back into the economy. In other words, it’s just a fraud,” he said.

“If you are talking about foreign debt, we have done it before, I will engage our creditors and ask for debt forgiveness or cancellation like we did before. Coming to local debt, if we stabilise the economy, we will borrow less, and propose a flexible payment plan”, he added.