Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has described the federal government’s 30-day petrol discount at Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited stations as a “panic-driven publicity stunt”.
Atiku, presidential candidate of the African Democratic
Congress (ADC), spoke in a statement issued on Thursday by Phrank Shaibu, his
director of strategic communication.
On Thursday, Taiwo Oyedele, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, announced that the federal government
would offer a discount on petrol sold at NNPC stations for the next 30 days,
with priority given to public transporters.
Oyedele said the gesture was not a return to petrol subsidy but an arrangement for the government to sell the product at cost.
Atiku, however, said the measure was a temporary response to
the hardship caused by high petrol prices and would not address the underlying
economic challenges.
“Atiku totally rejects this calendar-scheduled,
election-laced subsidy package. Nigerians are not fools to be offered a month
of discounted fuel after years of punishing prices and then expected to forget
the hardship when the discount expires,” the statement reads.
“What happens on Day 31? Nigerians wake up to the same
brutal prices, the same punishing transport fares and the same rising cost of
food.
“The government cannot manufacture relief for one month and
expect Nigerians to applaud while the hardship remains.”
The former vice-president also questioned the scope of the
intervention, noting that the discount would be available at NNPC stations
while the government had yet to announce the amount motorists would save per
litre.
He also asked whether any reduction in fuel costs for
transport operators would translate into lower fares for passengers.
Atiku said the government’s decision showed that
intervention in the petrol market was possible despite its previous arguments
against subsidy-style measures.
“This volte-face proves that the production-support proposal
I have advanced is workable, achievable and not complicated,” he said.
“The Tinubu government and its spin doctors have tried to
make it sound impossible, yet they are now reaching for a temporary
subsidy-style intervention because the pain has become impossible to ignore.”
Atiku reiterated his proposal for capped and budgeted
production support tied to petrol refined in Nigeria, with safeguards to ensure
that the benefit reaches consumers and supports domestic refining.
“Nigerians need lasting relief, not a countdown to the
return of hardship. Tinubu’s government cannot spend years telling Nigerians to
endure, then offer 30 days of relief and call it a solution,” he added.
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