Special Assistant to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Social Media, Dada Olusegun, has criticised Peter Obi, over his comments regarding the recent increase in fuel prices in Nigeria.
Olusegun’s reaction followed a statement released by Obi on Thursday, where the former governor of Anambra State argued that Nigeria’s vulnerability to global oil price shocks stems from the absence of a strategic petroleum reserve and inadequate government planning.
Posting on X on Saturday, the presidential aide dismissed Obi’s position, describing it as misleading and inaccurate.
Earlier, Obi had observed that petrol prices, which sold below N1,000 per litre weeks ago, had risen to above N1,200 per litre, while diesel prices climbed from under N1,000 to more than N1,500 per litre. He linked the development to global oil market tensions involving Iran.
“The reason for this is straightforward: most countries, whether they are oil-producing or non-oil-producing, maintain strategic petroleum reserves to cushion against supply or price shocks.
“This means that when there is a disruption in the global oil market, they can release part of these reserves to stabilize supply. However, Nigeria lacks such a buffer, so the impact is felt almost immediately.
“The underlying issue is a lack of planning. Countries that engage in planning create buffers against shocks, while those that do not remain vulnerable to them. The old maxim remains true: when a country fails to plan, it has already planned to fail,” Obi said.
Responding, Olusegun argued that the more immediate reason behind the rise in fuel prices is the deregulation of the fuel market after the removal of subsidy by the Tinubu administration.
“The recent rise in fuel prices in Nigeria is not primarily because the country lacks a strategic petroleum reserve. The more immediate factor is that the fuel market is now largely deregulated following the subsidy removal by the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he said.
He explained that under a deregulated system, domestic fuel prices respond directly to developments in the global market.
“In a deregulated system, petrol prices respond directly to global oil prices, exchange rates, shipping costs, and supply risks.
“So when geopolitical tensions involving Iran push global oil prices upward, countries that rely heavily on imported refined products like Nigeria will inevitably feel the effect at the pump. That is simply how an open market behaves.”
Olusegun also challenged Obi’s interpretation of strategic petroleum reserves, noting that such reserves are not typically used to regulate everyday pump prices.
“It is also not accurate to suggest that strategic petroleum reserves are tools used to control everyday pump prices.
“Even countries with very large reserves, such as the United States and China, maintain them primarily for serious supply emergencies, wars, embargoes, or major disruptions to global supply chains.
“They are not routinely deployed simply because prices move in the global market,” he said.
According to him, Nigeria’s energy sector challenges are more structural and long-standing.
“Nigeria’s real challenge has always been deeper and more structural. For decades, the country has struggled with limited refining capacity and a heavy dependence on imported refined products, despite being one of the world’s major crude oil producers.
“That structural imbalance, combined with exchange rate pressures, has consistently made the country vulnerable to global price movements,” he said.
He argued that attributing the entire issue to the absence of a strategic reserve oversimplifies the situation.
“So yes, planning matters. But reducing the entire issue to ‘Nigeria failed to plan because it does not have a strategic reserve’ completely misses the broader reality.
“Real planning would involve expanding domestic refining capacity, strengthening supply chains, stabilizing the foreign exchange environment, and maintaining consistent energy policies,” Olusegun said.
The presidential aide also reminded Obi that during the 2023 election campaign he had pledged to remove fuel subsidy if elected.
“It is worth reminding you that during your presidential campaign, you clearly stated that you would remove fuel subsidy if elected.
“So the same policy framework that now allows prices to reflect market realities is one you publicly supported,” he said.
Olusegun further criticised Obi’s comments, saying they oversimplified a complex global energy issue.
“When someone who once held the office of governor begins to make such sweeping conclusions about a complex global energy market, it is frankly embarrassing.
“A former governor should know better than to reduce a multi-layered economic issue to a simplistic talking point,” he said.
He advised the former governor to refrain from speaking on issues he did not fully understand.
“Sometimes the wiser thing to do is simply sit a conversation out when one does not fully understand how the system works rather than jumping at every opportunity to malign Nigeria, as this has been your modus operandi. It would save both the country and the speaker from unnecessary embarrassment,” Olusegun said.
