Donald Duke, the presidential standard-bearer of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), has declared that he will slash the pump price of petrol to roughly N300 per litre should he secure victory in the upcoming presidential race.
Duke, a former governor of Cross River State, said the proposed price would be achieved by changing the basis for pricing petroleum products meant for domestic consumption from international market rates to the cost of producing them locally.
He made the proposal while appearing on Channels Television.
He criticised the current approach to petroleum pricing and outlined his proposed management of Nigeria’s crude oil resources.
Duke said the government should reserve a portion of the country’s crude oil production for domestic consumption and sell the balance internationally.
“The subsidy regime thing – this whole thing is a scam. I’m going to price petroleum products for local consumption at production costs, not at international market costs,” he said.
According to him, the production cost he was working with was about $45 per barrel, including processing and refining, while the underlying cost could be around $30 without those components.
“I’m giving you a production cost of $45, right? The international price — that’s $45, including processing, refining, otherwise, it’s about $30, and you’re selling it back to your own people at 100 and something dollars,” he said.
Asked what he considered a realistic pump price under his proposed administration, Duke said he would target N300 per litre.
“I will try and bring it to about 300 naira. I’ve told you that it sounds so outlandish, but I’ve given you the arithmetic,” he said.
Duke argued that the high cost of petrol was worsening economic pressure on Nigerians, particularly low-income earners whose earnings are already being eroded by rising living costs.
“You don’t want them to breathe, and your people are notably the poorest in the world. They can’t afford it. The basic minimum wage is 70,000 naira. Your salary will go in just filling a tank of fuel,” he said.
The former governor said his proposal would involve setting aside about 600,000 barrels of crude oil daily for domestic consumption, depending on the country’s requirements.
He said the remaining production would be sold on the international market.
“Allocate 600,000 barrels if that’s what you consume daily. Allocate that to yourself. The other one million you can sell it,” he said.
His proposal comes amid renewed pressure over petrol prices following increases in global crude oil prices and their impact on Nigeria’s domestic fuel market.
Recent reports said petrol prices had risen to about N1,400 per litre in Lagos and Abuja, and as high as N1,500 in some northern markets.
The pricing debate has also persisted despite increased domestic refining capacity, particularly with the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
In July, the refinery shifted its petrol pricing to US dollars, fixing its gantry price at $0.779 per litre, citing difficulties in securing sufficient Nigerian crude under the naira-for-crude arrangement and rising global oil prices.
Available industry data also show that domestic petrol demand has fluctuated significantly amid higher pump prices.
NMDPRA data put average daily petrol consumption at 60.2 million litres in January 2026 before falling to 47.4 million litres in June.
Duke said the proposed lower-cost fuel regime would form part of a broader economic strategy aimed at reducing the cost of transportation and production and improving the ability of Nigerians to participate in economic activity.
“I’ve said severally that the function of government is to ensure the productivity of their citizens within a safe and orderly environment.
Fuel drives your economy. It should be available. It should be affordable,” he said.
Daily Trust reports that Duke’s proposal comes as petrol pricing has become one of the prominent economic issues in the 2027 presidential race.
Other candidates have offered different approaches to reducing the burden of fuel costs.
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential candidate, Adewole Adebayo, has gone further in terms of the proposed pump price, promising to bring petrol down to N200 per litre within 12 months if elected.
Adebayo said his plan would involve reviving Nigeria’s existing refineries and encouraging modular refineries, while using crude oil allocated for domestic refining to support the pricing arrangement.
He also proposed extending the N200 price ceiling to cooking gas and aviation fuel, arguing that Nigeria’s crude oil resources and existing refining infrastructure should be used to reduce energy costs for citizens.
The Allied Peoples Movement (APM) presidential candidate, Seyi Makinde, has also rejected a return to the old petrol subsidy regime but proposed cheaper domestic crude for Nigerian refineries.
The Oyo State governor said Nigerian crude supplied to local refineries should not be priced as though it had been imported from an international market.
He argued that domestic crude pricing could make locally refined petrol cheaper without recreating the previous subsidy system.
Makinde has also called for transparency across the petroleum value chain, including crude allocation, refining, transportation, distribution, taxes and retail margins.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has taken a different position, promising to restore petrol subsidy if elected president.
Atiku, who previously campaigned for the removal of subsidy, said in August that his position had changed because Nigerians had not seen sufficient improvement in living conditions following the policy’s removal.
What You Should Know
Peoples Redemption Party presidential candidate Donald Duke has outlined a plan to drastically lower petrol prices in Nigeria by shifting the basis of domestic fuel pricing away from international market benchmarks. Instead, he proposes pricing crude oil for local consumption directly at production costs, which he estimates to be around $45 per barrel or lower, allowing him to target a retail pump price of N300 per litre.
This proposal comes at a time when Nigerians are experiencing severe economic hardship due to high fuel costs, with pump prices exceeding N1,400 in many parts of the country. Several other 2027 presidential hopefuls have also shared alternative strategies for managing petroleum pricing and subsidy challenges.
- Positive Impact: If successfully implemented, lowering petrol to N300 per litre would drastically reduce transportation expenses, lower the cost of goods and services, and offer substantial financial relief to low-income earners struggling under current inflation.
- Potential Concerns: Critics and energy experts may question the feasibility of isolating domestic pricing from global market forces without triggering supply shortages, smuggling, or placing heavy financial burdens on the government and oil producers.
