Fuel Import Tariff: ADC Welcomes Reversal, Says Govt Lacks Clear Direction

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said the federal government’s withdrawal of its planned 15 per cent import duty on petrol and diesel validates the warning it issued two weeks ago, insisting the reversal further exposed what it described as the Tinubu administration’s “confused and trial-and-error style of governance.”

The party’s national publicity secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said the government’s U-turn came after the ADC cautioned on October 31 that the tariff would worsen the hardship already imposed on Nigerians by fuel subsidy removal, currency devaluation, rising inflation and soaring living costs.

Abdullahi said though the ADC welcomed the decision to halt the tariff, it was troubling that the administration had again reversed itself on a major policy issue. He noted that this latest withdrawal was about the seventh time in two years that the government would announce a policy and then quickly abandon it.

He said the ADC had warned that imposing the levy could push petrol prices above N1,000 per litre, a development he argued would have been devastating for households, transporters, farmers, small businesses and millions already struggling to cope with the economic pressures of the past year.

Abdullahi also questioned why the government was attempting to tax imported fuel when local refining capacity remained inadequate. According to him, the same reasons the ADC gave in its initial criticism were the very grounds the government eventually cited for its reversal.

He said the inconsistency surrounding the policy was further exposed by conflicting statements from government agencies, one claiming the implementation was only postponed, and another declaring the tariff no longer under consideration. He said such contradictions portray an administration that is “unsure of itself and working at cross purposes.”

Abdullahi stressed that Nigerians deserved clarity, stability and serious policymaking from those in office, not what he described as “a leadership that announces policies in the morning and abandons them by evening.”

He added that the ADC would continue to stand with Nigerians and speak out against any action that threatens their wellbeing.