—- Warns that Atiku’s subsidy rhetoric risks dragging Nigeria back to a pre-2023 fiscal crisis
The Presidency has dismissed former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s recent criticisms of the administration’s economic policies as “shallow, election-laced demagoguery,” asserting that the Nigerian electorate is far too sophisticated to trade long-term security for short-term political gimmicks.
In a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communication, Dr. Sunday Dare, the Presidency argued that President Bola Tinubu has taken the courageous path of market deregulation, strategic reserves, and CNG expansion to build a permanent foundation for prosperity.
The Presidency was responding to a press conference held by the former Vice President—the 2027 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC)—where he attacked the NNPC Retail’s 30-day fuel price discount.
“Atiku ‘Kachalla,’ disconnected from global realities and consumed by an unbridled lust for power, is a lone ranger,” the statement read. “He relies on emotional bait, trying to buy future votes with cheap sentimental appeals while ignoring the structural rot this administration has systematically dismantled over the last three years.”
The Presidency also hit back at Atiku’s claim that President Tinubu “copied his homework” while stripping away the “production subsidy.”
“It is sheer absurdity for a man who graduated from a school of hygiene to call a first-class accounting graduate a dull student,” the statement added.
**The Math Doesn’t Add Up**
Challenging the feasibility of Atiku’s proposals, the Presidency cited the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun (referenced as Taiwo Oyedele in the statement), noting that Nigeria’s crude production is currently around 1.8 million barrels per day.
“Simplistic populists like Atiku pretend the Federal Government owns all 1.8 million barrels to distribute at will,” the statement noted. “After accounting for Joint Ventures, Production Sharing Contracts, and international obligations, the state has fewer than 700,000 barrels of unencumbered crude. To propose a blanket ‘production subsidy’ without the physical volume to back it up is pure economic illiteracy.”
The Presidency argued that such a move would only revive the era of “fraudulent round-tripping and fiscal haemorrhage” that crippled the country for decades.
**Price Modulation vs. Old Subsidies**
The Presidency clarified that the NNPC’s 30-day discount is not a return to the old, bloated subsidy regime. Instead, it is a “market-smoothing framework” intended to absorb short-term global volatility.
“When NNPC Retail agrees to sell at landing cost, it is not writing cheques to opaque import cartels. It is leveraging its balance sheet to provide a buffer for the average commuter,” the statement explained.
The government further defended its price-ceiling policy on fuel, stating that it prevents the “erratic, panic-driven hikes” in transport fares that punish the common man. By maintaining a ceiling, the government argues it protects citizens from the volatility of international market prices.
**Defending the Reforms**
The statement listed several milestones achieved since 2023, which it claims the opposition chooses to ignore:
* **FAAC Allocations:** Wealth is now distributed directly to the 36 states and local governments, rather than being siphoned by fuel-smuggling syndicates.
* **Fuel Availability:** Artificial queues have been eradicated because market forces, rather than government rationing, now drive supply.
* **Exchange Rate Stability:** The dangerous gap between official and parallel rates—which allowed elites to profit from currency arbitrage—has been dismantled.
* **Direct Social Support:** The administration is prioritizing targeted cash transfers and wage awards over “subsidizing the fuel tanks of wealthy SUV owners.”
“Atiku’s narrative asks Nigerians to forget the unsustainable fiscal precipice the nation faced before May 2023,” the Presidency stated. “The removal of the toxic fuel subsidy and the unification of the foreign exchange market were surgical interventions required to save the Nigerian economy from total collapse.
“The alternative Atiku offers—resurrecting opaque subsidy regimes—is the exact road to ruin that brought Nigeria to its knees. It is the old way of doing business: palliatives funded by debt that lead directly to scarcity and bankruptcy.”
