FORMER Vice President Atiku Abubakar has slammed President Bola Tinubu’s approach to fuel subsidy management and the hardship his government escalates.
In a post on X on Thursday, October 10, Abubakar tagged Tinubu with the moniker “T-Pain,” as the name ‘T-pain’ is widely becoming a popular alias for the President on social media, particularly on X.
Abubakar stated that Tinubu’s approach to managing the fuel subsidy had led to a sharp rise in inflation, severely affecting the livelihoods of ordinary Nigerians.
“The haphazard and disingenuous approach of the current administration to fuel subsidy management has been the reason we are in this current economic crisis in the country,” he wrote.
The ICIR reported that the NNPCL hiked the price of a litre of petrol to N998 in Lagos State and N1,003 in Abuja on Wednesday.
Many Nigerians saw the development as compounding the hardship they faced.
Until now, the NNPCL had sold the product for N855 in Lagos. The new development resulted from the anticipated total deregulation of the sector, which removed the NNPCL as the middleman and permitted independent marketers to purchase the product directly from the Dangote Refinery.
Reports showed that fuel stations owned by independent marketers were also adjusting their prices beyond N1,000.
Reacting to this development, the former vice president warned that without a change in policy direction, inflation would worsen and further deepen the hardship faced by Nigerians.
“As things stand, there will be no let up in the escalating inflation rate, which is drowning the material well-being of Nigerians,” he emphasised.
Taking a direct jab at the President, Atiku expressed his disappointment over Tinubu’s “apparent indifference” to the suffering of Nigerians.
“It is even more worrying that T-Pain is undisturbed by the hardship in the country.”
Atiku’s comments followed growing discontent across the nation regarding the fuel price and cost of living, with many Nigerians struggling to make ends meet due to rising prices of essential goods and services.
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M
I doubt if anyone can change the economic situation of Nigeria in less than 24 months. Nigeria’s problems are caused by Nigerians, no amount of efforts by the government can bring the desire change unless there is attitudinal change from Nigerians. Nigeria ‘s fuel pump price of N1,100 per litre is the cheapest in West Africa, but people complain excessively because they believe government should provide everything near free to them.