Oyo State Governor and presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Seyi Makinde, has proposed a review of the pricing and supply of crude oil to domestic refineries as an alternative to petrol subsidy, saying Nigeria’s status as an oil-producing country should translate into cheaper fuel for its citizens.

Makinde made the proposal in Abuja while inaugurating the APM presidential campaign office, amid renewed political debate over the economic impact of petrol subsidy removal.

The governor said his recent intervention on petrol pricing had been wrongly interpreted as support for a return to subsidy, insisting that his position was fundamentally different.

“That is not my position,” Makinde said.

He argued that Nigeria should build the benefits of its crude oil production directly into the domestic refining system rather than subjecting local consumers to the full burden of international pricing and associated costs.

“If a community grows food, the people of that community should not have to buy that food as though it travelled halfway around the world before reaching them,” he said.

Makinde maintained that crude supplied to Nigerian refineries should not be priced as though the country were entirely dependent on imported oil.

He proposed that the benefit of domestic crude production should be incorporated when crude is supplied for refining, rather than introduced later through what he described as “an opaque intervention at the pump.”

The governor also called for greater transparency across the petroleum value chain, covering crude production, domestic allocation, refining, transportation, distribution, taxation and retail margins.

“Nigerians must be able to see how the final price is reached,” he said.

According to him, Nigerians should be able to determine how much of the pump price goes to each component of the value chain and identify areas where inefficiencies are increasing the cost of petrol.

Makinde linked the proposal to his “Reset Nigeria Agenda”, describing it as part of a broader push for a more transparent and accountable system of governance.

“We are opening another door for Nigerians to join the conversation about the future of our country,” he said.

The governor’s proposal comes amid a political debate that has increasingly shifted from whether petrol subsidy should be restored to questions about the benefits Nigerians have derived from its removal and how the resulting savings have been managed.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, had said on August 19 that subsidy removal generated N15.8tn for the federation between June 2023 and December 2025.

Opposition figures, including the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, have continued to question the Bola Tinubu administration over its management of the savings attributed to the policy.

Makinde, however, said the debate should go beyond choosing between subsidy payments and higher petrol prices, arguing that Nigeria needed to address the underlying structure of petrol pricing.

Speaking on the 2027 presidential contest, the governor also rejected suggestions that the APM was participating merely to make up the numbers.

He said the strength of the party’s campaign would depend on Nigerians who identify with its proposed changes rather than the assessment of established political opponents.

“Our voices count. Our experiences count. Our ideas count, and, together, our votes will count,” he said.

Makinde added that millions of Nigerians could not be dismissed if they united around a better future for the country.

“They may discount one candidate. But they cannot discount millions of Nigerians united behind a better future,” he said.