Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has raised the heat on President Bola Tinubu’s administration, demanding a clear and unvarnished account of where billions in petrol subsidy savings have vanished as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) threatens a fresh nationwide strike [cite: 1.1.1].
In a hard-hitting statement issued through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku pointed out the glaring disconnect between the massive revenues the government constantly celebrates and the deepening misery choking Nigerian households and campuses [cite: 1.1.3].
- The Broken Promise: Atiku noted that citizens were told to swallow the bitter pill of subsidy removal with the explicit assurance that freed-up resources would radically revamp education, healthcare, and public infrastructure [cite: 1.2.1].
- Lecturers and Empty Campuses: With public universities once again staring down the barrel of a shutdown over unpaid entitlements and ignored agreements, the former vice president argued that the moral authority to preach sacrifice has evaporated [cite: 1.2.4].
- Slams Student Loans: Atiku sharply criticized the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), describing it as a twisted cycle where a government first drives the cost of education out of reach and then offers students a loan to survive the very crisis it manufactured [cite: 1.1.3].
“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 challenged [cite: 1.1.1].
As tension builds around university gates and the cost of basic survival remains stubbornly high, the opposition figure has urged citizens to demand cold, hard facts rather than official spin as the government grapples with mounting public pressure.
