Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has labeled the Tinubu administration’s 90-day cost-of-living initiative as nothing more than political bait ahead of the elections.
Addressing a press conference at the ADC Secretariat today, Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communication of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, said its deadline falls after Nigerians have voted.
“The presidential election is 86 days away. Yet President Bola Tinubu’s National Economic Council has announced a cost-of-living plan that will run for 90 days.”
“The arithmetic is plain: the plan ends after Nigerians have voted. After three and a half years of hardship, this government is asking families to carry another promise into the polling booth and wait for relief until the votes are counted.
“This is election bait. Tinubu is offering hungry Nigerians the promise of affordable food, but the promised relief comes with a deadline that outlasts the election. The message is simple: vote first; relief later. Nigerians should refuse the bait and judge this government by the three and a half years they have already lived through.
“The plan lists five priorities: food affordability, tax harmonisation, completion of important projects, removal of investment bottlenecks and household support. These are the very problems Nigerians have been demanding that this government address since it took office. Families have cut meals. Workers spend more of their wages getting to work. Manufacturers struggle to produce, and businesses have closed. Tinubu cannot erase three and a half years of hardship with a 90-day announcement.
“When he removed the petrol subsidy, the impact on transport, food and production costs was predictable. Protection for vulnerable households should have come alongside that decision. Instead, the government imposed the costs immediately and left Nigerians to wait for the benefits. Now, after years of hardship, it has suddenly discovered that people need affordable food.
“A government cannot put a 90-day deadline on hunger, the cost-of-living crisis and insecurity and call it an economic policy.”
What You Should Know
The federal government recently introduced a 90-day economic relief plan focusing on food affordability, tax harmonization, and project completion, but critics argue the timing is suspicious.
- Positive Impact: If effectively implemented, the relief measures could provide temporary relief on food prices and essential goods for struggling families.
- Potential Concerns: Critics warn that the 90-day timeline ending after the elections makes it a campaign ploy rather than a sustainable economic solution for long-term hardship.
