By Opeyemi Adelakun
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has renewed his criticism of the Federal Government’s fuel subsidy removal, arguing that the latest threat of industrial action by university lecturers raises fresh questions about how the resulting savings have been used.
Atiku, in a statement issued on Sunday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said the government had presented subsidy removal as a measure that would release funds for education, healthcare, infrastructure and other essential services.
He questioned why the country’s public universities were still facing funding difficulties, inadequate infrastructure and unresolved obligations to academic staff several years after the policy was introduced.
“If the subsidy is gone and Nigerians have paid for that decision through unprecedented hardship, then President Tinubu owes the country a simple answer: where is the money?” Atiku asked.
The former vice president said the effects of subsidy removal had been felt through higher transport fares, food prices, energy costs and other household expenses, while families were also grappling with rising education costs.
He argued that the renewed threat by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, showed that the challenges facing tertiary education remained unresolved.
“More than three years later, lecturers are still raising concerns about unpaid salaries and unresolved agreements. ASUU is again warning of industrial action. University infrastructure remains inadequate, while millions of young Nigerians compete every year for limited admission spaces,” he said.
Atiku also questioned claims that increased revenues following subsidy removal had translated into higher allocations to state governments.
“Government officials repeatedly tell Nigerians that subsidy savings have translated into larger allocations to states. But if substantially more money is supposedly flowing to the states, why has the condition of public education not improved accordingly?” he asked.
He said the problem extended beyond federal institutions, noting that some state-owned universities had also experienced disputes and disruptions.
According to him, this points to a broader problem with the funding and management of tertiary education rather than an issue limited to federal universities.
Atiku further criticised the student loan policy, arguing that government economic measures had increased the financial burden on households at a time when the cost of university education was also rising.
“This government removed subsidy, increased the cost of transportation, food and virtually every other necessity, and watched the cost of university education rise beyond the reach of many families,” he said.
He questioned the rationale of asking students to rely on loans after families had already been placed under greater economic pressure.
“What kind of reform first empties a family’s pocket and then offers the child a loan to survive the hardship government helped create?” he asked.
The former vice president also raised concerns about whether Nigerian universities were expanding quickly enough to accommodate the country’s growing youth population.
He questioned the provision of classrooms, laboratories, hostels and other facilities needed to cope with increasing demand for university education.
“You cannot raise the cost of education, leave infrastructure inadequate, fail to settle lecturers’ legitimate claims, disregard agreements and then congratulate yourself for giving students loans,” Atiku said.
He accused the administration of placing the burden of economic adjustment largely on ordinary Nigerians while, in his view, powerful interests continued to receive concessions and privileges.
“The poor are told there is no money for subsidy. Students are told to borrow. Lecturers are told to wait. Parents are told to endure,” he said.
Atiku maintained that the government owed Nigerians an explanation of how the resources it said would become available after subsidy removal had been deployed.
He said the government had promised that the policy would create fiscal space for investment in critical sectors, but argued that developments in the university system suggested that the expected benefits had not been fully realised.
“The sacrifice has been collected from Nigerians in full. The promised benefits have not been delivered in full,” he said.
Atiku therefore urged President Bola Tinubu to account for the funds associated with subsidy removal, repeatedly asking where the money had gone.
He said the continuing threat of ASUU strike action, unresolved obligations to university workers, inadequate infrastructure and rising education costs remained evidence, in his assessment, that Nigeria’s tertiary education crisis had not been adequately addressed.
“Tinubu removed subsidy from the people, but he has not removed the threat of ASUU strikes. He has not resolved the crisis of unpaid obligations. He has not sufficiently expanded our universities. He has not made education more affordable. And he certainly has not removed the hardship confronting Nigerian families,” Atiku said.
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