Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has dismissed the Federal Government’s N70,000 monthly transport allowance for public service workers as inadequate to address the rising cost of living in the country.
Atiku said the allowance, scheduled to begin in November, is a desperate attempt to contain public anger over the economic crisis, arguing that government policies have made virtually every aspect of daily life unaffordable.
In a statement on Wednesday by Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communication of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, he said the crisis extends beyond transport costs to food, energy, rent and other essentials, leaving households and businesses struggling to survive.
He said the Tinubu administration is scrambling from one announcement to another, showing its failure to grasp the depth of the crisis. According to him, the cost of living crisis reaches beyond transport as energy, food, rent and other essentials affect every part of daily life.
Atiku illustrated the impact on ordinary Nigerians, noting that barbers now pay more to power their clippers, restaurant owners face higher cooking costs, shopkeepers struggle to keep prices down, school bus operators pay more for fuel, while families still have to buy food. He asked whether hardship ends at the bus stop.
The former vice president questioned why the relief is restricted to public service workers when private sector employees, traders, small businesses, transport operators and millions without formal jobs are equally affected by rising costs. He said the public workforce is only a fraction of Nigeria’s population and a temporary allowance for some cannot solve a national crisis.
He also faulted the government for failing to resolve the effective date of a new minimum wage, demanding clarity on payment dates, eligibility for the allowance and when wage negotiations would produce a decision.
Atiku said the six-month allowance would offer limited relief against soaring fuel prices, noting that N70,000 at about N1,400 per litre would only buy roughly 50 litres of petrol.
He accused the Tinubu administration of creating the economic crisis through its policies and trying to contain the consequences with temporary payments rather than addressing the underlying causes. What Nigerians are witnessing, he said, is a government that set the house ablaze with its reckless policies, then pretends to fight the inferno by throwing ice cubes at the flames.
On previous interventions, he said the fuel discount, the 90-day cost-of-living plan and the compressed natural gas programme had failed to deliver promised relief. The government promised CNG would lower transport costs, but that promise has failed, he said, describing it as another scam of promises while families continue to face unaffordable prices.
Atiku described the government’s rushed announcements as politically motivated, accusing President Bola Tinubu of offering temporary payments instead of confronting the consequences of fuel subsidy removal.
He proposed a transparently managed production subsidy for fuel refined in Nigeria as an alternative, arguing that it would provide relief at the pump while addressing corruption and leakages associated with previous subsidy arrangements. Tinubu must not punish 250 million Nigerians for the corruption and leakages of a few thousand, he said.
He added that his campaign would pursue policies aimed at lowering living costs, raising household incomes and restoring dignity to work, insisting that Nigerians need lasting relief, decent wages and an economy that rewards honest work.