The Oyo State Governor and presidential candidate of the Allied People’s Movement (APM), Seyi Makinde, has called for greater transparency in Nigeria’s petroleum industry, insisting that the country’s crude oil resources must provide tangible and measurable benefits to Nigerians.
Makinde also said that transparency must be ensured across the petroleum value chain, including crude oil production, domestic crude allocation, refining, transportation, distribution, taxation and retail margins.
According to a statement signed by the Governor’s Special Adviser on Media, Dr Sulaimon Olanrewaju, on Monday, September 7, Makinde made the call while speaking at the commissioning of the Makinde/Daura Presidential Campaign Office in Abuja.
He questioned the rationale behind pricing crude oil supplied to Nigerian refineries as though the country did not produce the commodity.
“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. So, why should crude oil supplied to Nigerian refineries be priced as though Nigeria does not produce crude oil?” he said.
The APM candidate argued that the benefits of Nigeria’s crude resources should be incorporated into the system from the point of domestic crude supply, rather than through interventions at the petrol pump after various costs and inefficiencies had accumulated.
He said his proposed “Reset Nigeria” agenda was aimed at ending opaque government systems and rebuilding public trust.
“Government must show its workings. Nigerians must be able to see how decisions are made and how national resources are managed,” Makinde said.
The governor also urged Nigerians to make the Reset Nigeria project a broad-based national conversation, saying the initiative should extend beyond politicians to traders, farmers, business owners, workers, students and other citizens affected by the country’s economic challenges.
He said the newly commissioned campaign office would remain open to Nigerians who believe the country could function better.
Earlier, the APM National Leader and Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, endorsed Makinde’s leadership capacity and described him as one of the best human resources produced by Nigeria.
Mohammed praised Makinde’s performance in Oyo State, describing him as a “mobilizer” and “manager of resources,” while commending his ability to achieve significant results with limited resources.
The APM National Chairman, Dr Yusuf Dantalle, said the party’s Reset Nigeria agenda was designed to provide a new political direction anchored on competence rather than ethnicity or religion.
Dantalle described the campaign headquarters as the “engine room” of the party’s victory in the 2027 elections and said the Makinde/Daura ticket offered Nigerians hope for improved governance, security, economic prosperity and socio-religious harmony.
He also pledged that the APM would run an issue-based campaign focused on practical solutions and competence rather than bitterness, division and hatred.
In his goodwill message, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Peter Obi, described Makinde as qualified to become Nigeria’s president, while stressing that political differences should not make politicians enemies.
Similarly, Secretary of the PDP Board of Trustees and former Niger State Governor, Dr Aliyu Babangida, called for collaboration among opposition parties to rescue the country.
He said opposition parties were working towards supporting a single candidate and would consider a southern candidate, arguing that the North had already produced eight years of presidential leadership.
The event was attended by APM vice-presidential candidate Alhaji Lawal Daura, former Osun State Governor Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, legislators, members of the party’s Board of Trustees and National Working Committee, among other dignitaries.
