Atiku demands account of subsidy savings as ASUU threatens strike

FORMER Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, has demanded transparency over the funds saved from the removal of petrol subsidy, following the latest threat by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to commence a nationwide strike.

Atiku said the planned industrial action exposed the failure of the Federal Government to deliver on its promise that resources freed by the subsidy removal would be redirected to critical sectors such as education.

In a statement issued on Sunday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Mr Phrank Shaibu, Atiku challenged President Bola Tinubu to account for the savings generated since the subsidy was removed.

“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?” he asked.

ASUU on Friday warned that its members could embark on a nationwide strike ‘within the shortest time possible’ unless the government takes urgent steps to address outstanding issues concerning lecturers’ welfare.

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The union’s president, Prof Chris Piwuna, said the decision followed an emergency meeting of its National Executive Council at the University of Abuja.

Piwuna accused the Federal Government and state governments of failing to fully implement the agreement reached with the union in December 2025.

The union also raised concerns over the alleged non-remittance of deductions for pension contributions, staff cooperative societies and ASUU’s check-off dues for several months.

Atiku questions higher allocations

Atiku said the renewed dispute with university lecturers undermined the government’s justification for ending the petrol subsidy.

He argued that Nigerians had absorbed significantly higher petrol, transport, food, energy and education costs on the understanding that savings from subsidy removal would be invested in public services.

“The house of cards of falsehoods erected by the Tinubu administration to justify the suffering of Nigerians is collapsing before our eyes,” he said.

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Atiku also questioned the government’s claim that subsidy savings had resulted in higher allocations to state governments.

He argued that increased revenues should be reflected in improved public education, including better infrastructure and more reliable funding for universities.

“Government officials repeatedly tell Nigerians that subsidy savings have translated into larger allocations to states. But if substantially more money is supposedly flowing to the states, why has the condition of public education not improved accordingly?” he asked.

According to him, higher allocations should not be celebrated while students face disruptions to their academic programmes and universities continue to struggle with inadequate classrooms, laboratories, hostels and teaching facilities.

NELFUND also comes under attack

The former vice-president also criticised the administration’s student loan programme, arguing that the government had increased the financial burden on households before introducing loans to help students meet rising education costs.

“This government removed subsidy, increased the cost of transportation, food and virtually every other necessity, and watched the cost of university education rise beyond the reach of many families,” Atiku said.

He said the establishment of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) did not address the underlying affordability problem because families were still struggling with the wider increase in the cost of living.

Atiku described the situation as ‘government-manufactured poverty’ and accused the administration of prioritising concessions, waivers and privileges for powerful interests over measures that would provide relief to ordinary Nigerians.

He said the latest ASUU dispute showed that subsidy removal had neither eliminated industrial unrest in the university system nor produced the improvements in public services promised by the government.

“Tinubu removed subsidy from the people, but he has not removed the threat of ASUU strikes,” Atiku said.

“He has not resolved the crisis of unpaid obligations. He has not sufficiently expanded our universities. He has not made education more affordable. And he certainly has not removed the hardship confronting Nigerian families.