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Says Nigerian workers deserve better leaders
By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja
Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has described the fuel subsidy removal by President Bola Tinubu as “a necessary step, recklessly executed”.
The former Vice President said this in a statement entitled, “Workers’ Day: Broken Promises, Shattered Hopes: The Nigerian Worker’s Burden Under the Tinubu Administration”, issued on Thursday in Abuja ahead of today’s worker’s day celebration.
Atiku, who is currently a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress ADC, pointed out that the manner in which the Tinubu administration executed the fuel subsidy removal policy was irresponsible and callous.
The two-time presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said, “The fuel subsidy removal was a necessary step, recklessly executed.
“Let me be clear: the removal of the fuel subsidy was, in principle, a policy that many, including myself, had long advocated.
“The subsidy had become a fiscal haemorrhage that enriched cabal middlemen while denying the government of the resources needed for development. Its removal was necessary and overdue.
“But the manner in which the Tinubu administration executed this policy was irresponsible and callous.
“On the day of inauguration, with no preparation, no safety nets, no cushioning mechanisms, and no transition plan for ordinary Nigerians, the President announced the end of the subsidy.
“The price of fuel skyrocketed. Transportation costs doubled and tripled overnight. The cost of food and basic goods hit the roof.
“The Nigerian worker, who was already struggling to survive on a salary eroded by years of inflation, was suddenly confronted with a cost of living that made mere survival feel like a luxury”, he said.
Continuing, Atiku declared, “A responsible government would have spent the preceding months preparing Nigerians for this transition, establishing social safety nets, empowering the most vulnerable, and ensuring that the pain of reform was shared equitably.
“This administration did none of that. It simply removed the subsidy and left the Nigerian worker to drown.
“Trillions were ostensibly saved, but nothing gained by the people. The fuel subsidy removal freed up enormous sums of money. Billions of dollars that had previously been committed to keeping pump prices artificially low were suddenly available. Nigerians, who had suffered the immediate consequences of the removal, were right to ask:
“Where has this saved money gone? What has been done with it to improve their lives? The answer is deeply troubling.
“Rather than being channelled into programmes that would directly benefit Nigerians, infrastructure that serves the people, healthcare, education, or an economic stimulus, these funds have been shared among the various tiers of government.
“The bulk of the federal government’s share, disturbingly, appears to be financing the controversial $11 billion Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project. “As desirable as this project was, it was not subjected to competitive bidding or due process. It was awarded to a company owned by a man that President Tinubu himself has publicly acknowledged as his business partner.
“This is not governance, it is the brazen conversion of public resources for private enrichment”, he stressed.
He added, “As if the combined effects of fuel subsidy removal and naira devaluation were not punishment enough for the Nigerian worker, the Tinubu administration also set about reviewing the nation’s tax laws, with the stated purpose of extracting more revenue from the citizenry.
“Increasing taxes during an economic crisis, when citizens are already struggling to survive, is not fiscal responsibility. It is an act of cruelty masquerading as policy.
“A government that truly serves its people grows the tax base by growing the economy, by creating the conditions for businesses to thrive, for jobs to multiply, for incomes to rise.
“When more people are employed and earning more, tax revenues naturally increase without placing an additional burden on those who are already struggling.
“The Tinubu administration has chosen the opposite approach: squeeze the people harder, regardless of their capacity to pay”, he said.
Nigerian workers, Atiku maintained, deserve a government that measures its success by their living standards, not by the size of its spending, the growth of its debt, or the breadth of its patronage networks.
Nigeria, said with optimism, can and must do better, saying, “The resources exist. The talent exists. What is lacking is the will to govern for all Nigerians rather than for the few”.
The former Vice President, in the statement personally signed by him, said, “On this Workers’ Day, I want to speak directly to the men and women who wake up every morning and go to work in spite of everything: the civil servants who have not received their full entitlements, the traders whose goods no one can afford to buy, the factory workers whose employers are closing shop, the teachers and medical personnel holding together systems that government is failing to adequately fund.
“You are not invisible. Your suffering is not a statistic. It is real, it is documented, and it is a direct consequence of a trial-and-error policy choices made by those entrusted with the responsibility to serve you.
“Nigeria’s working people did not cause this crisis. They did not vote for impoverishment. They voted for hope, and that hope was taken from them. They deserve leadership that spends the nation’s resources on their welfare, not on opaque mega-projects that serve the well-connected.
“They deserve a government that measures its success by their living standards, not by the size of its spending, the growth of its debt, or the breadth of its patronage networks.
“Nigeria can and must do better. The resources exist. The talent exists. What is lacking is the will to govern for all Nigerians rather than for the few”, he said.
