The political battle over Nigeria’s fuel subsidy policy has taken a fresh turn, with former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, firing back at President Bola Tinubu over his criticism of Atiku’s proposed petroleum intervention.
Atiku, through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, accused the administration of worsening economic hardship through fuel subsidy removal and foreign exchange reforms.
He said his proposal was not a return to the old subsidy regime but a targeted, capped and time-bound production support scheme linked to domestic production and subject to independent auditing.
“Economic prescriptions respond to prevailing conditions. Even a first-year economics student understands ceteris paribus, other things being equal. But other things are no longer equal in Tinubu’s Nigeria”, Atiku said.
He accused the government of increasing the financial burden on Nigerians while highlighting higher Federation Account Allocation Committee, FAAC, revenues to states.
“You do not build a federation by impoverishing citizens so that Abuja can send bigger cheques to governors. That is robbing households to subsidise governments”, he said.
Atiku also questioned the management of federal funds, demanding explanations over about 30 trillion naira in Federation Account revenues, deductions, savings and transfers, as well as the 12.8 trillion naira Service-Wide Vote in the 2026 budget.
He urged the Presidency to address these concerns rather than dismiss his economic proposals.
