By Oscar Okhifo
Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s plan to reduce public transport fares, describing it as a belated response to the cost-of-living crisis.
Atiku said the Federal Government’s Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) programme had not achieved enough to cushion the impact of the petrol subsidy removal, arguing that the conversion of about 120,000 vehicles represented less than one per cent of the estimated 14 million vehicles on Nigerian roads.
He made the remarks in a statement issued on Friday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu.
According to Atiku, the government’s CNG conversion figure was evidence of policy failure rather than an achievement.
“If Tinubu’s grand strategy for cushioning the consequences of his reckless and poorly thought-out subsidy removal is CNG conversion, then the admission that only about 120,000 vehicles have been converted in more than three years is not an achievement. It is an advertisement of policy failure.
“Against widely cited estimates of roughly 14 million vehicles on Nigerian roads, 120,000 conversions amount to less than one per cent.
“That is the government’s own number. That is Tinubu marking his own examination script.
“If a student returned less than one per cent in his core subject, WAEC would not call it progress. No university would call it excellent performance. Yet Tinubu wants Nigerians to reward the political equivalent of that catastrophic score with another four years.
“The truth is simple: Nigeria cannot afford another four years of monumental failure.”
Atiku also faulted the President’s argument that cheaper fuel should lead to lower transport fares, saying the administration had failed to provide adequate relief since the petrol subsidy was removed in May 2023.
“For more than three years, Nigerians begged this government for relief. Tinubu removed subsidy without a credible cushioning framework, watched transport costs explode, watched food prices follow, watched businesses suffocate under crushing energy costs, and repeatedly told Nigerians that their suffering was the unavoidable price of reform,” he said.
He accused the administration of turning its attention to transport costs as the 2027 elections approach, while contrasting its position with his proposal for a production-based subsidy.
“Now that elections are approaching, and Nigerians are rallying behind Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s proposal for a production-based subsidy to immediately tackle the cost-of-living crisis created by Tinubu, the same government that ridiculed and criticised Atiku’s plan has suddenly discovered that Nigerians need cheaper transportation,” he said.
Atiku described the move as “medicine after death”, arguing that CNG alone could not address the wider problem of declining purchasing power.
“CNG can make a converted bus cheaper to operate. It cannot make a poor Nigerian richer.
“That distinction demolishes the propaganda.”
He said workers, traders, students and farmers were all bearing the consequences of high transportation costs.
“Go to the motor parks. Nigerians are travelling less because they cannot afford to travel. Workers calculate whether transport to work will swallow their wages. Traders are buying less because transportation is eating into their capital. Students struggle with daily fares. Farmers pay heavily to move food from farms to markets.
“So what exactly has Tinubu solved if the bus becomes cheaper to operate but the passenger has become too poor to enter it?
“A cheaper bus without an affordable passenger is not economic recovery.”
The ADC candidate also questioned the decision to wait until October 1 for the expected reduction in transport fares, saying Nigerians needed relief immediately.
“A bus driver does not buy tyres with a presidential statement. A market woman does not transport tomatoes with a government committee. A farmer does not move yam, rice and maize with promises. Spare parts, maintenance, food, rent and virtually every other operating cost have risen.
“And now Nigerians are being told to wait until October 1 before they may begin to feel relief from a crisis they are suffering today.
“Nigerians are hungry today. Transport is expensive today. Food is expensive today. Businesses are dying today.
“Why must relief arrive by appointment?”
Atiku said the transportation crisis was ultimately tied to the erosion of household purchasing power, rather than simply the type of fuel used by commercial vehicles.
“You cannot solve a purchasing-power crisis simply by changing the fuel inside a bus. What matters to the Nigerian worker is not merely whether the bus runs cheaply, but whether his salary can still afford the fare, food, rent, medicine, school fees and the basic dignity of life,” he said.
He called for a targeted fuel subsidy tied to domestic production, with safeguards against abuse and diversion.
“Fuel subsidy must return for struggling Nigerians, not the rich friends of the President and multinational companies but a targeted production intervention that is transparently budgeted, independently audited and guarantees that the benefit reaches consumers.
“We will support domestic refining. We will track every barrel. We will cap the cost. We will reduce energy costs. And we will ensure that money and relief reaches the commuter, farmer, worker, trader and small business owner, not politically connected middlemen.”
Atiku further accused the Tinubu administration of worsening the economic burden on Nigerians while celebrating increased government revenues.
“That is the difference between Tinubu and Atiku: Tinubu manufactures hardship and distributes palliatives. Atiku will attack hardship at its source,” he said.
The Federal Government has promoted CNG as a key component of its strategy to reduce transportation costs following the removal of the petrol subsidy, with the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative supporting vehicle conversions and the deployment of CNG-powered buses.
President Tinubu recently announced plans by the Federal Government and state governors to work towards reducing public transport fares from October 1, citing lower operating costs associated with CNG and electric vehicles.
But Atiku said the measure was inadequate and too late to address the scale of the economic hardship facing Nigerians.
“The question before Nigeria is therefore bigger than, How cheaply can a bus run?
“The real question is: How cheaply can a Nigerian live?
“Tinubu has failed that examination. His own CNG numbers have supplied the score sheet.”
He concluded, “President Tinubu, Nigerians have paid enough for your economic experiment. Too little. Too inadequate. Too late. Your time is up. Prepare your handover.
“We are coming to make life affordable again.”