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ATIKU'S SUBSIDY CLAIM IS A RETURN TO FUEL QUEUES, REVERSAL OF MINIMUM WAGE AND CANCELLATIONN OF EDUCATION GRANT TO NIGERIAN STUDENTS- YILWATDA The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, has called on Nigerians to carefully consider the economic consequences of calls by former president Atiku Abubakar to return the country to the old fuel subsidy regime, warning that such a move could reverse hard-won gains from the ongoing economic reforms. Specifically, his subsidy claim will return Nigerians to fuel queues, removal of the current minimum wage, cancellation of the education grants to Nigerian students among other negative consequences for the masses. Professor Yilwatda made the call in Abuja while receiving a delegation of critical economic stakeholders who visited him to discuss the state of the Nigerian economy, ongoing reforms and the prospects for sustainable economic growth. He said the debate over fuel subsidy should not be reduced to political rhetoric, but must be assessed against the experiences of the country under the previous regimes, particularly the enormous fiscal burden imposed on government and the consequences for states, workers, education and infrastructure development. According to him, the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar’s proposal to restore fuel subsidy raises fundamental questions about how such a policy would be financed and sustained without returning Nigeria to the cycle of fiscal pressures that characterised the previous arrangement. “Subsidy may appear attractive because it promises cheaper petrol, but Nigerians must also ask the bigger question: who pays for the subsidy and what happens to the resources that government must divert to finance it? “A policy cannot be judged only by its immediate benefit at the pump. We must examine its impact on government revenues, salaries, pensions, education, healthcare, infrastructure and the overall capacity of government to meet its obligations to citizens.” Professor Yilwatda, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media amd Information Strategy, noted that before the current administration, several state governments faced serious difficulties meeting their salary obligations, with some unable to pay workers regularly and others resorting to partial salary payments. He said the removal of the subsidy and the resulting increase in federal allocations to states had significantly improved the fiscal position of many sub-national governments, enabling them to meet salary and pension obligations while also undertaking development projects. He therefore cautioned that any attempt to reintroduce subsidy must be subjected to rigorous economic scrutiny to ensure that the country does not recreate the fiscal pressures of the past. The APC chairman also drew attention to the education sector, recalling the prolonged disruption of academic activities in Nigerian universities under the previous administration. He said Nigerians should be concerned about policies that could weaken the capacity of governments to finance education and other essential public services. “A return to a fiscally unsustainable subsidy regime could have consequences far beyond the price of petrol. When government revenue is squeezed, the first victims are often the critical sectors that directly affect the welfare and future of our people,” he said. On the new minimum wage, Professor Yilwatda said the sustainability of improved workers’ wages must also be considered in the subsidy debate. He explained that wage increases require a corresponding improvement in the capacity of both federal and state governments to meet their recurrent obligations. According to him, the challenge is not merely to announce higher wages but to create an economic environment in which governments can consistently pay them without sacrificing investment in infrastructure, education, healthcare and other essential services.
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