Like A Dull Student, You Copied My Subsidy Proposal Poorly – Atiku Fires Tinubu

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has mocked President Bola Tinubu over the Federal Government’s 30-day petrol discount, accusing him of copying his production subsidy proposal but removing the key measures that would make it effective.

Atiku described Tinubu as a “dull student” who copied a classmate’s examination answer without understanding the lesson.

He insisted that the President had reduced his proposal to a temporary measure that would offer Nigerians only short-term relief.

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate made the remarks during the inauguration of the party’s Presidential Campaign Council at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja.

“Wait a minute, Bola. You have borrowed the idea but missed the lesson,” Atiku said.

He argued that the President had taken the idea of a production subsidy and reduced it to a 30-day petrol discount rather than implementing a comprehensive policy capable of addressing the challenges facing Nigerians.

“You had a production subsidy and reduced it to a 30-day gesture,” the former vice president said.

“Bola, you are like a dull student who copied his classmate’s answer. You have done it so blindly that you copied the classmate’s name at the top of his examination paper and then demanded marks for original thinking,” he said.

The ADC candidate maintained that he had no objection to the President adopting his proposal but faulted him for allegedly failing to retain the important elements needed to make the policy work.

“You copied my production subsidy proposal. There is nothing wrong with that,” Atiku stated.

However, he accused the Tinubu administration of removing the substance of the proposal and replacing it with a temporary discount on petrol sold at Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) retail outlets.

“You stripped away the part that makes it work and handed Nigerians a 30-day discount,” he said.

Questioning the sustainability of the government’s intervention, Atiku asked, “Where is the rest of the answer?”

Atiku added, “Bola, please, you see why it is good to go to school?”

The exchange comes amid growing political disagreement over the Federal Government’s decision to introduce a temporary petrol discount as Nigerians continue to face the effects of rising fuel prices and transportation costs.

The Presidency has repeatedly rejected claims that the initiative amounts to a return to petrol subsidy, maintaining that the arrangement involves NNPC Retail reducing its profit margin rather than the government using public funds to pay part of the cost of fuel.

Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Information and Strategy, recently urged the ADC and the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) to understand the difference between a retail margin discount and a government-funded subsidy.

In a post on X, Onanuga explained that a retailer could choose to reduce or completely forgo its profit margin for a specified period and pass the savings to customers.

“Every marketer adds a margin to the price it pays for the fuel it sells. A margin discount means the retailer chooses to take a smaller margin, or no margin at all for a period, and passes the saving to the customer. The cost of the discount is borne by the retailer alone,” he stated.

He contrasted the arrangement with the petrol subsidy system abolished by the Tinubu administration in May 2023, under which the government paid part of the cost of fuel on behalf of consumers.

“A subsidy is different. It is when government pays part of the price the consumer would otherwise pay. That money comes from public revenue — funds that would otherwise go to salaries, schools, hospitals and infrastructure,” Onanuga said.

“That is the regime this administration ended in 2023, and it is not coming back,” he added.

Atiku had described the government’s 30-day petrol discount as a “panic-driven publicity stunt”, arguing that a temporary reduction would not adequately address the economic hardship Nigerians had experienced since the removal of the subsidy.

The ADC Presidential Campaign Council also criticised the initiative, with its officials questioning whether the measure could provide meaningful relief to households struggling with rising living costs.

The NDC similarly rejected the arrangement, describing it as “tokenism and a Greek gift”. The party questioned the effectiveness of limiting the discount to NNPC retail stations and warned that concentrating demand at selected outlets could result in long queues, congestion and safety concerns.

Despite the criticism, NNPC has maintained that the discount is intended to provide temporary relief to households, businesses and other customers affected by rising fuel prices.

The company initially introduced the initiative on October 1 as part of activities marking Nigeria’s 66th Independence Anniversary. On Friday, October 9, NNPC announced that the discount would continue until October 31.

In a statement signed by its Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Andy Odeh, the company said the intervention was intended to ease the immediate pressure on consumers amid elevated global crude oil prices linked partly to the conflict in the Middle East.

NNPC also clarified that the discount applied to its retail outlets and would not establish a uniform national pump price or change the market-based pricing framework for petroleum products.

“This discount is a customer relief initiative and does not represent the reintroduction of petroleum subsidy,” the company stated.

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