…Olusegun urged Obi to refrain from commenting on issues he allegedly does not fully understand,
ABUJA, NIGERIA- The iNews Times | Dada Olusegun, Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Social Media, has criticised Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, over his remarks on the rising cost of fuel in Nigeria.
Olusegun urged Obi to refrain from commenting on issues he allegedly does not fully understand, describing the former governor’s comments on fuel price increases as inaccurate and embarrassing.
He made the remarks in a post on X on Saturday while reacting to a statement Obi issued on Thursday. In the statement, the former Anambra State governor blamed Nigeria’s exposure to global oil price shocks on the absence of a strategic petroleum reserve and poor government planning.
According to reports by The iNews Times, Obi had observed that petrol, which sold for less than N1,000 per litre a few weeks earlier, had risen to over N1,200 per litre, while diesel climbed from below N1,000 to more than N1,500 per litre. He linked the increase to geopolitical tensions involving Iran and their impact on global oil prices.
Obi argued that many countries maintain strategic petroleum reserves to cushion supply or price shocks. He said such reserves allow governments to release stored fuel during disruptions in the global market to stabilise supply.
However, he noted that Nigeria lacks such a buffer, meaning global shocks are felt almost immediately. Obi said the situation reflected a broader failure of planning, stressing that countries that plan effectively build buffers against shocks, while those that do not remain vulnerable.
Responding, Olusegun dismissed the argument, insisting that the more immediate reason for the increase in pump prices was the deregulation of the fuel market following the removal of fuel subsidy by the administration of Bola Tinubu, rather than the absence of a strategic petroleum reserve.
He explained that in a deregulated market, petrol prices respond directly to global oil prices, exchange rates, shipping costs and supply risks. As a result, he said, geopolitical tensions involving Iran that push global oil prices upward would naturally affect countries like Nigeria that depend heavily on imported refined petroleum products.
Olusegun also challenged Obi’s description of strategic petroleum reserves, arguing that even countries with large reserves, such as the United States and China, primarily maintain them for major supply emergencies like wars, embargoes or severe disruptions in global supply chains, rather than routine price fluctuations.
While acknowledging Nigeria’s structural challenges, Olusegun said the country’s long-standing issues include limited refining capacity and heavy reliance on imported refined products despite being a major crude oil producer. He added that exchange rate pressures have further exposed the country to global price changes.
He maintained that reducing the situation to the absence of a strategic reserve oversimplifies the issue, arguing that meaningful planning should focus on expanding domestic refining capacity, strengthening supply chains, stabilising the foreign exchange market and ensuring consistent energy policies.
Olusegun also pointed out that Obi had pledged during his presidential campaign to remove fuel subsidy if elected in 2023, noting that the current market-driven pricing framework reflects a policy Obi himself publicly supported.
He further questioned Obi’s understanding of the global energy market, saying it was embarrassing for a former governor to draw sweeping conclusions about such a complex issue.
Olusegun advised Obi to refrain from commenting on issues he does not fully understand, adding that doing so would prevent unnecessary embarrassment for both the country and the speaker.
