The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo, has pledged to reduce the prices of petrol, cooking gas and aviation fuel to a maximum of ₦200 per litre if elected president in 2027.
Adebayo made the promise on Sunday in Abuja while featuring on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Personality Interview Series.
The SDP candidate said his administration would achieve the proposed reduction within 12 months by reviving Nigeria’s existing refineries and creating a favourable environment for modular refineries to operate across the country.
Adebayo argued that Nigeria’s refineries remain capable of contributing to domestic fuel supply, noting that some refineries in the United States have remained operational for more than a century.
He also proposed restoring what he described as the original subsidy arrangement, under which 450,000 barrels of crude oil would be reserved for domestic consumption.
According to him, revenue generated from the sale of other derivatives produced from the crude, including naphtha, heavy fuel oil, diesel and kerosene, would be used to sustain the proposed pricing regime.
“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 argued that the ongoing debate over fuel subsidy was diverting attention from the major challenges facing Nigeria’s petroleum sector.
He maintained that the priority should be to develop adequate domestic refining capacity and reduce the country’s dependence on imported refined petroleum products sold at international market prices.
The presidential candidate also linked his proposed fuel price reduction to an ambitious transportation policy aimed at lowering the cost of movement for Nigerians.
He pledged to expand public transportation and rail services while proposing a system that would allow workers and students to access public transport through employment and student identification cards.
Under the proposal, employers would contribute six per cent of workers’ salaries towards transportation costs.
Adebayo further promised to cap housing costs at seven per cent of workers’ salaries and provide free education and healthcare if elected.
“The summary of it is that transportation costs cannot go more than six per cent of your salary and housing costs should not be more than seven per cent of your salary; education and healthcare should be free,” he said.
He added that his administration would prioritise agriculture and food security to make food more affordable for Nigerians.
Adebayo insisted that subsidy removal alone would not resolve Nigeria’s fiscal challenges, describing the controversy surrounding the policy as a distraction from the need to fix the country’s refineries and expand domestic refining capacity.
