Former Vice-President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has criticised President Bola Tinubu over the removal of petrol subsidy, saying the policy has brought hardship to Nigerians rather than the economic progress being claimed by the government.
Atiku was reacting to Tinubu’s recent criticism of his proposal to restore petrol subsidy if elected president in 2027. The President had described the proposal as evidence of “serious ignorance on governance and economy.”
In a statement issued on Friday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shuaibu, Atiku said the government should not mistake Nigerians’ resilience in the face of hardship for evidence that its economic reforms were successful.
He argued that the reforms had increased pressure on citizens through higher petrol prices, exchange-rate volatility and rising living costs.
“The real ignorance is believing suffering is economic policy. Tinubu removed the subsidy from Nigerians’ pockets, but he is yet to remove the questions from his books,” Atiku said.
The ADC candidate also clarified that his proposal was not a return to the former open-ended subsidy regime.
According to him, his plan would introduce a targeted and capped subsidy mechanism that would be budgeted, time-bound and independently audited, while linking support to domestic production and putting safeguards in place to prevent abuse.
“Economic prescriptions respond to prevailing conditions. Only incompetence insists on yesterday’s prescription after today’s conditions have changed,” he said.
Atiku further questioned the Federal Government’s claim that petrol subsidy had been completely eliminated, citing petroleum-related costs contained in the audited accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
He claimed the accounts reportedly contain about ₦17.5 trillion in energy-security costs and petroleum under-recoveries, including approximately ₦7.13 trillion classified as Energy Security and ₦8.67 trillion in under-recoveries.
“Tinubu told Nigerians subsidy was dead. Yet NNPC’s audited accounts reportedly contain approximately ₦17.5 trillion in energy-security costs and petroleum under-recoveries, including about ₦7.13 trillion classified as Energy Security and ₦8.67 trillion in under-recoveries. So what exactly did Tinubu remove?” Atiku asked.
He said Nigerians were still bearing the burden of higher fuel prices, while questions persisted over other petroleum-related expenses being incurred by the government.
“Tinubu has given Nigerians the worst of both worlds: he removed the relief but retained the opaque costs. Nigerians got the pain; government kept the bill,” he said.
Atiku also dismissed the argument that increased allocations from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) showed that subsidy removal had strengthened the economy.
He urged state governments to focus on building productive economies, attracting investments and increasing internally generated revenue instead of becoming more dependent on federal allocations.
The former vice-president maintained that economic policies should be reviewed when circumstances change, arguing that the effectiveness of government reforms should ultimately be measured by their impact on citizens’ purchasing power and standard of living.
