The Democratic Front (TDF) has said it was embarrassed by the insistence of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar that the removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu was ‘hasty and thoughtless’.
In a statement signed by its Chairman, Mallam Danjuma Muhammad, and Secretary, Chief Wale Adedayo, the TDF wondered why the former Vice President has not come up with a better alternative to what President Tinubu did.
”It is even more worrisome that the former Vice President has continued to hold on to the cost of living in the aftermath of fuel subsidy removal in a desperate bid to prove the current administration wrong on the decision.
”We find it sad that Atiku and his media handlers did not acquaint themselves with the current development around prices of foodstuffs in local markets before blowing his much exaggerated claims of ‘hunger and despair’ out of proportion,” it said.
The group also provided insight into the price of food across the market, which, according to it, painted a different reality.
Contrary to his politically motivated exaggeration about the food prices across Nigeria, the current survey shows that a local cup of rice, which skyrocketed to N3,000 in the wake of subsidy removal in May 2023, is now N1,400, and a cup of maize, which galloped to N2,000, now sells for N400 in most Northern markets.
”Meanwhile, a basket of Irish potatoes, which sold for N12,000, now sells for N2,500 in the Jos township market, an indication that the price of foodstuffs is fast crashing in the country.
“This is on account of the aggressive pursuit of pragmatic policies, intervention, and investment in agriculture and food security, through fuel subsidy savings, by the Tinubu administration,” it added.
TDF also urged the former Vice President to present to Nigerians what he would have done differently if he were the President.
It said: “In his usually cynical attempt to be clever by half, former Vice President Abubakar commended some state governments for their performances on labour matters but chose to overlook the fact that it was President Tinubu’s decision to withdraw petroleum subsidy which resulted in the unprecedented surge in federal allocations.
”This is what enabled the sub-nationals to embark on infrastructural projects, payment of the new minimum wage, and to clear debt owed to local contractors.
Similarly, the Democratic Front finds Atiku’s accusation that the Tinubu administration had failed to pay the new wage award to federal workers to be untrue.
”Available records show that not only has the government commenced payment of the new salary scale to federal civil servants, but it is also clear that no government has paid workers as much as the Tinubu administration is currently doing. And this, in our opinion, could not have been possible without the termination of the wasteful fuel subsidy regime.
”We urge him to present Nigerians with his own option to fuel subsidy removal, or tell the public how he intends to sustain petroleum subsidy, which he also promised to remove during the election campaigns.
”Our advice became necessary because his criticism of fuel subsidy withdrawal, without proffering alternatives, is fast eroding what remains of his reputation as a former Vice President”
The group appealed to Nigerians not to take former Vice President Abubakar seriously on the issue of petroleum subsidy withdrawal, until he can provide a strategy to sustain the subsidy regime without external borrowings.
