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• Says varsity crisis exposes contradiction in FG’s reform claims
From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has challenged President Bola Tinubu to account for savings from the removal of petrol subsidy, saying the renewed threat of a nationwide strike by university lecturers has called into question the government’s promise to channel the funds to education and other critical sectors.
The former vice president said Nigerians had endured unprecedented increases in transportation, food and energy costs since the subsidy was removed, yet public universities remained underfunded and lecturers were again threatening to down tools over unresolved agreements and unpaid entitlements.
His intervention followed a warning by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) that it could reactivate its suspended nationwide strike without further notice unless the Federal Government and state governments urgently address outstanding issues affecting its members.
ASUU issued the warning after an emergency meeting of its National Executive Council (NEC) at the University of Abuja on September 5.
Among the issues are the alleged non- or haphazard implementation of the December 2025 Federal Government-ASUU agreement, payment of the outstanding three-and-a-half months of salaries withheld during the previous administration and remittance of deductions from lecturers’ salaries. The union acknowledged that the Tinubu administration had paid four months out of the seven-and-a-half months of salaries withheld during the previous administration but insisted that the outstanding balance must be paid. Reacting to the development in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the administration had justified subsidy removal on the grounds that the savings would free resources for education, healthcare, infrastructure and other essential services.
He said the latest university crisis raised questions about how those resources had been deployed.
“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?
“The house of cards of falsehoods erected by the Tinubu administration to justify the suffering of Nigerians is collapsing before our eyes. A government that strips citizens of relief, denies them meaningful social protection and fails to deliver the basic improvements it promised has forfeited the moral credibility to continue preaching sacrifice.”
Atiku accused the administration of imposing an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis without providing sufficient relief for Nigerians.
“The Tinubu administration has imposed an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis on Nigerians. Families are struggling with soaring food prices, punishing transport costs, expensive energy and shrinking incomes. Yet instead of cushioning the consequences of its own economic decisions, the government has largely abandoned Nigerians to carry the burden alone.
“That is what makes the present university crisis indefensible. Government removed the cushion, collected the supposed savings and imposed the hardship, but Nigerians cannot see the corresponding improvement in their schools, hospitals or everyday lives,” he said.
Atiku said the persistence of disputes in the universities more than three years into the administration contradicted claims that the subsidy savings were being deployed to improve critical public services.
“More than three years later, lecturers are still raising concerns about unpaid salaries and unresolved agreements. ASUU is again warning of industrial action. University infrastructure remains inadequate, while millions of young Nigerians compete every year for limited admission spaces. So where is the money?”
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The ADC candidate also faulted the government’s argument that subsidy removal had resulted in increased allocations to states, saying improved revenues should have translated into better public education across the federation.
“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?
“Across the federation, public education remains under severe pressure. Several state-owned universities have experienced industrial disputes and disruptions under this administration, even while the Federal Government continues to advertise an era of stability in the tertiary education calendar,” he said.
Atiku said the situation exposed what he called a contradiction between rising government revenues and the quality of services available to Nigerians.
“You cannot boast about record allocations while students sit at home because lecturers are on strike. You cannot celebrate higher revenues when classrooms, laboratories, hostels and teaching facilities remain inadequate.
“If more money is reaching both the Federal Government and the states, Nigerians are entitled to ask why the quality and capacity of public education remain so painfully deficient,” he said.
The former vice president also criticised the administration’s student loan programme, arguing that the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) could not substitute for adequate investment in public universities and affordable education.
“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.
“After helping to make education more expensive, the same government created NELFUND and now celebrates giving young Nigerians loans to pay fees that many of their parents can no longer comfortably afford.
“What kind of reform first empties a family’s pocket and then offers the child a loan to survive the hardship government helped create? That is not progress. It is a vicious circle of government-manufactured poverty.”
Atiku argued that Nigeria’s growing youth population required a corresponding expansion of university infrastructure and admission capacity.
“Every year, more young Nigerians seek university education, yet the physical capacity of the system has not expanded anywhere near the scale required. Where are the new classrooms? Where are the laboratories? Where are the hostels? Where are the additional teaching facilities and expanded admission spaces required for Nigeria’s growing youth population?
“You cannot raise the cost of education, leave infrastructure inadequate, fail to settle lecturers’ legitimate claims, disregard agreements and then congratulate yourself for giving students loans. That is not education reform. It is organised hardship financed with debt,” Atiku said.
