The governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, has questioned the Federal Government’s fuel discount policy, asking it to release its pricing template for the programme.

Makinde, who also doubles as the presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), spoke on Saturday at the party’s North-East 2027 Town Hall Meeting in Yola, Adamawa State.

“Now, yesterday, I listened to the Minister of Finance on TV. He said now that they are on price modulation for petroleum products. We are asking for only two things. We don’t want long ‘turenchi’ [fancy grammar and talk],” the governor told the gathering.

“Just release to Nigerians your pricing template: how you arrived at your figure, and let Nigerians – they are not dumb – look at your pricing templates, and if they have a better solution, they will present it.

“The fact that we’re in government or you’re in the [Presidential Villa] does not make you the only people with sense. In Nigeria, we have Nigerians who can dissect issues and proffer solutions. So please give us your pricing template, and we will make our input.

His comment came days after the Federal Government announced a 30-day fuel discount policy aimed at easing the price of fuel across the country.

The policy, in partnership with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), has attracted widespread criticism from the opposition, who described it as the return of subsidy via the back door and a politically motivated ploy just months away from the 2027 general elections.

President Bola Tinubu, who is seeking a second term, pushed through sweeping economic reforms when he came into office in 2023, including scrapping a major fuel subsidy and unifying the exchange rate market.

While economists have broadly backed the measures, they have driven up living costs and deepened hardship in Africa’s most populous country.

Although Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer, hosts the continent’s largest refinery, owned by industrialist Aliko Dangote, fuel prices have risen to about ₦1,400 ($1.00) per litre from the ₦830 seen before the war in the Middle East. (Channels TV)