Atiku attacks Tinubu over subsidy removal, student loan policy

By Lateef Ibrahim

Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has criticised the Federal Government’s economic policies, accusing the administration of President Bola Tinubu of worsening the financial hardship facing Nigerian families.

Atiku said the removal of the petrol subsidy, coupled with rising transportation, food and education costs, had placed additional pressure on households across the country.

The former vice president made his position known in a statement issued by his spokesman, Phrank Shaibu, while questioning the government’s justification for the subsidy removal and its subsequent allocation of additional funds to state governments.

According to Atiku, the development also exposes what he described as a fundamental weakness in the administration’s student loan policy.

He argued that while the government had made basic necessities and university education more expensive, it subsequently introduced the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) to provide loans to students whose families could no longer comfortably meet the rising cost of education.

“This government took away subsidies, made transportation, food, and almost every other basic need more expensive, and let the cost of going to university go up so much that many families can’t afford it anymore,” Atiku said.

He questioned the rationale behind providing loans to students after government policies had allegedly reduced the ability of their parents to finance their children’s education.

“After making education more costly, the same government set up NELFUND and now proudly gives young Nigerians loans to cover school fees that many of their parents can no longer easily pay,” he added.

The ADC candidate described the approach as counterproductive, arguing that Nigerians were being forced to borrow simply to cope with the consequences of economic policies.

“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.

Atiku maintained that such policies could deepen rather than reduce poverty, describing the situation as a “vicious circle of government-manufactured poverty.”

His comments add to growing political criticism of the Tinubu administration’s economic reforms as political parties and presidential contenders position themselves ahead of the 2027 general elections.