The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Adewole Adebayo, has promised to reduce the price of petrol, cooking gas and aviation fuel to N200 per litre if elected president in the 2027 general election.
Adebayo made the promise on Sunday, September 6, 2026, during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja, where he outlined some of the policies he plans to introduce if elected.
He said his administration would aim to achieve the proposed fuel price within 12 months by restoring Nigeria’s existing refineries and creating better conditions for modular refineries to operate across the country.
According to Adebayo, Nigeria still has usable refining facilities despite the age of some of the plants. He compared them with older refineries in the United States that have continued to operate for decades.
The SDP candidate also proposed returning to a subsidy arrangement based on allocating 450,000 barrels of crude oil for domestic use. He said products obtained from the same crude, including naphtha, heavy fuel oil, diesel and kerosene, could be sold, with the revenue used to support the pricing system.
Adebayo argued that the focus of the petroleum debate should move away from whether fuel subsidies should exist and towards increasing Nigeria’s ability to refine crude oil locally.
He said relying heavily on imported refined products exposes Nigerians to international market prices even though the country has crude oil and existing refining infrastructure. His proposed policy would therefore focus on domestic refining and the development of additional modular refineries.
He said petrol, cooking gas and Jet A1 would be placed under a pricing arrangement designed to keep their cost at no more than N200 per litre. Revenue from other petroleum products would, according to his plan, help balance the cost of the three products.
Adebayo also said that under an SDP government, fuel subsidy would no longer be treated as a major economic policy issue because the government would focus on making domestic refining efficient enough to reduce the need for such intervention.
He rejected the view that removing fuel subsidy alone would solve Nigeria’s financial challenges. Instead, he said the government should deal with the weaknesses in the petroleum sector by ensuring that refineries operate properly and supporting new modular plants.
The presidential candidate linked his fuel proposal to a wider transportation plan aimed at reducing the cost of movement for Nigerians. He said his administration would expand public transport and rail services to reduce dependence on private cars.
Under the proposed plan, workers and students would be able to use identification cards connected to public transportation services without direct payment. Employers would contribute six per cent of workers’ salaries towards transportation costs, according to the proposal.
Adebayo said cheaper fuel, expanded public transport and improved rail services would reduce transportation costs and make it easier for people to move goods and access economic opportunities.
Beyond transportation and energy, the SDP candidate also promised to place limits on housing costs, saying workers would not be expected to spend more than seven per cent of their salaries on housing under his proposed administration.
He further promised free education and healthcare while saying agriculture would receive greater attention as part of efforts to make food more affordable and improve food security.
Adebayo’s proposals form part of his campaign plans ahead of the 2027 presidential election, as political parties and candidates continue to present their economic programmes to voters.
His proposed N200 price for petrol, cooking gas and aviation fuel would depend on the successful revival of refineries, the expansion of local refining capacity and the implementation of the pricing and subsidy arrangements he outlined.