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Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has blasted President Bola Tinubu's administration for allegedly surreptitiously reintroducing fuel subsidy payment despite telling Nigerians otherwise.
Atiku, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, made the allegation in a statement shared on his X on Wednesday, June 5, 2024.
During his inauguration speech on May 25, 2023, President Tinubu surprised many Nigerians by declaring that "subsidy is gone," immediately triggering a skyrocketing increase in the price of petrol from ₦180 to over ₦600.
However, contrary to public belief, recent media reports claimed that the Federal Government was still paying subsidies on fuel despite the high price of the commodity per litre.
Atiku blasts Tinubu over fuel subsidy
Reacting to the development, Atiku said he was shocked to "learn through media reports that the 'government is still supporting downstream consumption.'"
He also noted that the supposed fuel subsidy removal has become the "bragging right of Tinubu and officials of his administration."
Referring to his earlier call on the President to provide clarity on the fuel subsidy regime, he accused Tinubu of not coming clean with Nigerians regarding the subsidy matter,
According to him, the Federal Government expenditure on fuel subsidy may reach ₦5.4trn in 2024, compared to the ₦3.6trn spent in 2023.
"If the subsidy regime had been characterised by opaqueness, what would we say of a situation where the subsidy is still being paid under the cover without Nigerians in the know?
"Like millions of Nigerians, I was shocked to learn through media reports that the “government is still supporting downstream consumption.”
"Now we know that expenditure on fuel subsidy may reach N5.4 trillion in 2024, compared to the N3.6 trillion spent in 2023, the same year that Tinubu claimed to have abolished fuel subsidy.
"I wish to restate that Nigeria is not working, and what we have had in a little over a year is a cocktail of trial-and-error economic policies. Paying subsidies and lying about it is nothing to brag about. Nigerians deserve better than this deception. -AA," he said.