Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has stated clearly that the country under President Bola Tinubu has not been working.
Atiku said it was regrettable that President Tinubu did not understand policy formulation and implementation and became president.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) former presidential candidate added that a policies of President Tinubu and his economic teams were based on trial and error and not sound reasoning economic policies.
Atiku stated this on Wednesday, June 5, while condemning recent Accelerated Stabilisation and Advancement Plan was submitted to Tinubu and an Executive Order by Wale Edun, Finance Minister and Coordinator of the Economy on Tuesday, June 4.
The ASA plan showed that contrary to Tinubu’s announcement that “subsidy is gone” on day of his inauguration, the government has been paying much more fuel subsidy than previous administrations.
Atiku in reaction to the ASAP document regretted that Tinubu’s administration chose to deceive Nigerian by paying much more fuel subsidy while the petrol price remained costly for Nigerians to purchase.
Atiku said, “President Bola Tinubu, at his inauguration on May 29, 2023, announced the abolishment of the subsidy on PMS, popularly known as fuel.
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“Ever since, it has been a bragging right of Tinubu and officials of his administration.
“I had in my statement reviewing the one year of the Bola Tinubu administration urged the government to come clean on the actual position of the subsidy policy.
“These were my exact words: “…provide clarity on the fuel subsidy regime, including the fiscal commitments and benefits from the fuel subsidy reform and the impact of this on the Federation Accounts. It is curious that since April 2024, fuel queues have mounted at many filling stations across Nigeria, and the infamous ‘black market’ has sprouted in several states. How much PMS is being imported and distributed, and at what cost? What is the implicit subsidy?”
“If the subsidy regime had been characterized by opaqueness, what would we say of a situation where the subsidy is still being paid under the cover without Nigerians in the know? he questioned.
“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,” Atiku added.
