The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Atiku Abubakar, has slammed President Bola Tinubu over the pump price of petrol despite crude oil selling for less than $147 per barrel.
In a statement, Phrank Shaibu, the spokesman for the ADC presidential candidate, said President Musa Yar’Adua sold petrol at N65 per litre in 2008.
Mr Abubakar also accused Mr Tinubu of presiding over an organised system of grand larceny against Nigerians, noting that his administration is built on opaque Federation Account FAAC deductions, off-book transactions and other allegations.
“With crude oil around $102.52 per barrel, Nigerians are paying as much as ₦1,470 per litre. In 2008, when crude oil reached about $147 per barrel, petrol sold at ₦65 per litre under the Yar’Adua administration. The difference is that the government then understood that economic policy must ultimately protect the welfare of citizens,” Mr Abubakar said.
He said petrol at ₦1,470 per litre is not merely a figure at the filling station, adding that it stretches beyond the price of transportation, food, school runs, farming, manufacturing, and virtually everything Nigerians buy.
According to him, every increase at the pump travels directly into the household budget.
“After all the pain imposed on Nigerians, they have a right to ask: where are the subsidy savings and where is the money? Nigerians deserve accounts they can interrogate, not accounting labels designed to discourage questions,” he said.
“At about $4.31 per gallon, U.S. petrol is roughly $1.14 per litre. Yet while the U.S. federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, Nigeria’s minimum wage is only ₦70,000 per month. Tinubu has brought Nigerians close to American fuel prices while leaving them with Nigerian poverty wages. That is the true cost of his subsidy-removal policy.”
Mr Abubakar noted that despite oil revenue and deductions, including the hardship, petrol prices have surged to N1,470 per litre.
“The question Tinubu must answer is simple: where are the savings, where are the revenues, and who is taking Nigeria’s money?” he stated.