The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party for the 2019 election, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has accused the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration of engaging in secrecy concerning the fuel subsidy regime.
In a statement by the Atiku Presidential Campaign Organisation on Monday, Abubakar, who promised to reduce the pump price of petrol, if he emerges the president next year, also described the fuel subsidy regime as inefficient.
The statement reads: “The Atiku Presidential Campaign Organisation is alarmed by Premium Times report of illegal diversion of $1.05 billion to secretly fund subsidy payment on petroleum products.
“This revelation has once again brought to the fore the need to review the administration and management of the subsidy regime by the Federal Government.
“We believe that the subsidy regime as it is currently being administered is inefficient and shrouded in secrecy.
“We are committed to the elimination of this process that is undertaken without any recourse to transparency and due process.
“Moreover, the retention of revenue by revenue earning agencies of the government for their operation is hardly done judiciously and responsibly.
“We will commit to a review of that policy such that every revenue earning agency is brought into the federal budget in accordance with international best practice.”