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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
African Democratic Congress (ADC) 2027 Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has said that the recent threat by Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to embark on strike has further called to question government claims that savings from the removal of fuel subsidy would be channelled towards education and other critical areas.
Atiku, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, stated that the President Bola Tinubu administration sold subsidy removal to Nigerians on the promise that the enormous sacrifice imposed on families would release resources for education, healthcare, infrastructure and other essential services.
However, the former Vice President said that while the cost of living has increased as a result of the fuel subsidy removal, public universities have remained underfunded, with lecturers complaining about unpaid entitlements and unresolved agreements, and students once again face the threat of disruption to the academic calendar.
According to him, “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.
“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.
“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?”
The ADC candidate argued that the government’s attempt to defend subsidy removal by pointing to increased allocations to state governments raises an even more troubling question about the condition of public education across the federation. He added that Nigeria’s rapidly growing youth population makes the failure to expand tertiary education capacity even more alarming.
“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. The crisis is therefore not merely a federal university problem. It exposes a wider contradiction between the enormous revenues the government celebrates and the deteriorating public services Nigerians actually experience.
“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,” Atiku stated.
Furthermore, the former Vice President noted that “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.”
“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.”
