Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has hit back at President Bola Tinubu over his criticism of Atiku’s proposed intervention in Nigeria’s petroleum sector, accusing the administration of worsening the cost-of-living crisis while celebrating increased government revenues.
In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, on Friday, Atiku said Tinubu was in no position to lecture Nigerians on economic management after the removal of petrol subsidy and foreign exchange reforms.
“The real ignorance is believing suffering is economic policy.”
Atiku said his proposal was not a return to the old subsidy regime, but a targeted, temporary and independently audited production-support mechanism aimed at increasing domestic refining and protecting consumers from excessive price shocks.
He argued that economic conditions had changed significantly since Tinubu removed the petrol subsidy in May 2023, with petrol prices, transport costs and food prices rising while the naira depreciated.
“Economic prescriptions respond to prevailing conditions. But other things are no longer equal in Tinubu’s Nigeria.”
Atiku Questions Petroleum Costs
The ADC presidential candidate challenged the Federal Government to explain continuing petroleum under-recoveries and energy-security costs recorded in the accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
He cited figures which he said amounted to about ₦17.5 trillion, including approximately ₦7.13 trillion in energy-security costs and ₦8.67 trillion in other costs.
“If subsidy is dead, why are under-recoveries alive? If corruption was eliminated, why has opacity survived?”
Atiku accused the administration of giving Nigerians the hardship of subsidy removal while retaining what he described as opaque costs in the petroleum sector.
“Nigerians got the pain; government kept the bill.”
The Federal Government has maintained that subsidy removal was necessary to free resources for development, increase public revenues and reduce distortions in the petroleum market.
Atiku, however, rejected the argument that increased Federation Account allocations automatically represented economic success, saying citizens were simultaneously losing purchasing power.
“You do not build a federation by impoverishing citizens so that Abuja can send bigger cheques to governors.”
Atiku Demands Answers on ₦30tn
Atiku also renewed his demand for an explanation of approximately ₦30 trillion in Federation Account revenues, deductions, savings and transfers.
He further questioned the ₦12.8 trillion Service-Wide Vote contained in the 2026 budget, challenging the administration to provide greater transparency on public finances.
Atiku said the success of economic reforms should be measured by their impact on citizens rather than the size of government revenues.
“Economic reform is not measured by how fat government accounts become while citizens grow poorer.”
He described Tinubu’s economic policies as an experiment that had imposed significant hardship on Nigerians and urged voters not to accept another four years of what he called policies that deepen hardship.
“Nigerians have paid enough for Tinubunomics. They should not be sentenced to another four years of the bitter experiment.”
