Cocktail of trial-and-error Economic Policies: Stop Lying To Nigerians- Atiku Tackles Tinubu On Subsidy

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the last general election, Atiku Abubakar, has berated the federal government over recent admittance by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, that President Tinubu’s administration may have to allocate approximately N5.4 trillion for fuel subsidy by the end of 2024.

Presenting the Accelerated Stabilization and Advancement Plan report on Wednesday, Mr. Edun said “Fuel subsidy: At current rates, expenditure on fuel subsidy is projected to reach N5.4 trillion by the end of 2024.”

In a post via his official X account, Mr. Abubakar said “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.”

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The statement reads:

President Bola Tinubu, at his inauguration on May 29, 2023, announced the abolishment of the subsidy on PMS, popularly known as fuel.

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 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