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African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has dismissed the 90-day cost of living relief announced by the Federal Government as an election bait.
Atiku, who spoke through the Director, Strategic Communication, ADC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Phrank Shaibu, at a press briefing, on Friday, in Abuja, said the 90-day cost of living relief is allegedly aimed at luring Nigerians to vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the January 16 presidential contest.
The National Economic Council ( NEC) chaired by Vice President, Kashim Shettima, had on Thursday, announced a 90-day cost of living relief.
Nonetheless, the former Vice President, while urging Nigerians not to fall for the bait, said the deadline falls after they would have voted in the presidential poll. Besides, he argued that the APC led Federal Government has a record of keeping its promises to Nigeians.
According to him, “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.”
Atiku added that “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.”
