Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has condemned the Federal Government’s proposed 30-day fuel discount at NNPC stations, describing it as a desperate, temporary gesture that cannot repair the damage caused by the crushing cost of fuel.

In a statement issued by Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communication of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, Atiku said the Tinubu administration’s attempt to dangle a fuel subsidy as bait for Nigerians was reckless, disgraceful and scandalous.

He said the same government had watched Nigerians endure excruciating hardship without offering meaningful relief.

“Now, as the election draws closer, President Tinubu is dangling a temporary discount at the very epicentre of the cost-of-living crisis that has tormented households and businesses.”

“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. This is shameless and heartless,” he said.

Atiku said the proposed 30-day discount was not an economic plan but a political bandage on a wound the government had helped create.

“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,” he said.

He noted that the offer is limited to NNPC stations, while the government has yet to state how much motorists will save per litre or guarantee that any savings for transport operators will be passed on to passengers through lower fares.

The former Vice President said the administration’s sudden reversal on this sensitive social welfare issue was itself an admission of guilt over the hardship Nigerians have endured. It also exposed the weakness of the government’s repeated claims that meaningful relief was impossible.

“This volte-face proves that the production-support proposal I have advanced is workable, achievable and not complicated. 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 said.

He reiterated his proposal for capped and budgeted production support tied to fuel refined in Nigeria, with safeguards to ensure that the benefit reaches consumers and supports local 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 said.

Atiku restated his commitment to making life affordable again.

“Tinubu made life expensive. I will make life affordable again.” (Daily Trust)