Atiku, NDC Knock Federal Govt’s 90-Day Cost Of Living Relief Plan

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) have knocked the federal authorities’s 90-day cost-of-living aid plan, describing it as election bait and a determined try and placate Nigerians after years of hardship.

Addressing a world press convention on the ADC Secretariat in Abuja yesterday, Phrank Shaibu, the director of strategic communication of the ADC presidential marketing campaign council, mentioned the plan’s deadline falls after Nigerians would have voted.

“The presidential election is 86 days away. Yet President Bola Tinubu’s National Economic Council has introduced a cost-of-living plan that can run for 90 days.

“The arithmetic is obvious: the plan ends after Nigerians have voted. After three and a half years of hardship, this authorities is asking households to hold one other promise into the polling sales space and await aid till 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,” Shaibu mentioned.

The plan, proposed by the Federal Ministry of Finance and endorsed on Thursday throughout the 161st assembly of the National Economic Council chaired nearly by Vice President Kashim Shettima, lists 5 priorities: meals affordability, tax harmonisation, completion of essential tasks, elimination of funding bottlenecks and family help.

Shaibu mentioned these are the very issues Nigerians have demanded the federal government deal with because it took workplace.

“Families have reduce meals. Workers spend extra of their wages attending to work. Manufacturers wrestle to provide, and companies have closed. Tinubu can’t erase three and a half years of hardship with a 90-day announcement.

“When he eliminated the petrol subsidy, the impression on transport, meals and manufacturing prices was predictable. Protection for susceptible households ought to have come alongside that call. Instead, the federal government imposed the prices instantly and left Nigerians to attend for the advantages. Now, after years of hardship, it has immediately found that folks want inexpensive meals.

“A government cannot put a 90-day deadline on hunger, the cost-of-living crisis and insecurity and call it an economic policy,” he mentioned.

Also reacting, the National Publicity Secretary of the NDC, Osa Director, mentioned President Tinubu had resorted to placating Nigerians after his insurance policies introduced them uncertainties.

In an interview with LEADERSHIP, Director mentioned: “It is seen to the blind and audible to the deaf that the amorphous financial insurance policies of the Tinubu-led administration have failed.

“They have now resorted to desperate measures to placate the people. But unfortunately for them, Nigerians are wiser and can see through the smokescreen.”

Shaibu additionally faulted Tinubu’s deliberate go to to Kaduna to launch his re-election marketing campaign, recalling the tragedies the state has endured below his presidency.

“On 3 December 2023, an Army drone struck civilians gathered for a Maulud celebration in Tudun Biri. At least 85 folks had been killed. Tinubu despatched his Vice President to go to survivors; he didn’t go himself to take a seat with households mourning their lifeless.

“In September 2024, residents of Giwa reported that one other army airstrike killed no less than 24 civilians. Families in Kajuru have buried family members and looked for kinfolk kidnapped by bandits. In September 2025, an assault involving kidnapping in Kachia affected 152 folks; eight deaths and 9 accidents had been recorded.

“Kaduna has additionally suffered devastating storms and floods. In July 2025, windstorms and rain affected 6,172 folks and broken lots of of shelters throughout 5 native authorities areas. In September, flooding in Zaria affected 476 folks and left dozens injured.

“When households had been burying their lifeless, looking for their kids and clearing wreckage from their houses, Kaduna wanted the eye of its President. Yet the Presidency’s account of Tinubu’s September 2025 go to listed a marriage and a courtesy name. Now, with an election approaching, he’s returning to launch a marketing campaign.

“Tinubu can discover his approach to Kaduna for a marriage. He can discover his means there for votes. Why was he absent when grieving households wanted their President?

“He must not turn those families into a backdrop for a campaign celebration. Before asking Kaduna for another mandate, he should explain what has been done for the victims of Tudun Biri, what became of investigations into civilian deaths and how his government will protect communities still threatened by abduction,” he mentioned.

Shaibu mentioned the identical sample of grand bulletins and little aid was evident within the authorities’s gasoline promotion.

“NNPC started a petroleum low cost promotion on 1 October, which the federal government later introduced as a part of its aid effort. I visited NNPC Retail stations myself. Attendants advised me there was no low cost, and I purchased petrol at ₦1,405 per litre.

“With barely per week left earlier than the supply expires, my expertise as a buyer was easy: a promise of aid, and a better worth on the pump. If NNPC says motorists can entry a reduction by way of an app, it should clarify why clients arriving at its stations had been advised there was none. How many shoppers obtained the low cost? At which stations? How many litres had been offered on the decreased worth? Publish the figures.

“NNPC has about 900 retail stations in a rustic the place Nigerians purchase petrol from 1000’s of retailers. What attain can a ₦66-per-litre promotion have when it’s confined to that community? And what lasting aid does ₦66 supply households whose transport and meals payments stay excessive?

“Tinubu announces relief at a podium. Nigerians arrive at the pump and pay more. Now his government expects the country to trust another announcement, this time with a 90-day deadline,” he mentioned.

He mentioned the timing was inconceivable to disregard, noting that Atiku Abubakar has made the cost-of-living disaster central to his marketing campaign and pledged to make Nigeria inexpensive once more.

“Tinubu’s government is trying to appropriate that message with a plan that runs through the election. Nigerians should not trade three and a half years of lived hardship for three months of promises,” Shaibu mentioned.

The ADC marketing campaign demanded solutions on the federal government’s 5 priorities:

“Food affordability: Which prices will fall for farmers, transporters and merchants? When will households see decrease costs out there, and what is going to hold meals inexpensive after 90 days?

“Tax harmonisation: Which expenses will probably be eliminated or mixed, and when? The authorities should publish the complete tax schedule and clarify whether or not right this moment’s promise of aid will probably be adopted by larger expenses after the election.

“Important tasks: Which tasks will probably be accomplished inside 90 days? Where are they, how a lot stays to be paid, and when will the general public be capable to use them? A venture is full when it serves folks, not when it’s marked full on a authorities dashboard.

“Investment bottlenecks: Which obstacles will the federal government take away in 90 days? Manufacturers want dependable energy, workable transport prices and entry to inexpensive finance. Businesses can’t reopen, make investments or rent on the energy of a press launch.

“Household support: Who qualifies? How much will each household receive? When will payments begin, and what happens after day 90? Publish the eligibility rules, the budget and the payment method.”

Shaibu additionally raised concern over a registration kind being distributed below the identify “Arise for Tinubu 2027,” which asks for voter identification, financial institution particulars and cellphone numbers.

“Who is accumulating this delicate private info, how will it’s used, and is the train linked to the family help the federal government has introduced?

“No Nigerian should have to hand over voter or bank details to a political group to receive public relief. The government must state clearly whether this registration exercise is connected to any publicly funded programme. If it is not, it must explain how it will prevent household support from being used to recruit voters or collect their data,” he mentioned.

He mentioned Nigerians have carried the burden of the federal government’s reforms and have each proper to demand proof that the promised advantages will attain them and proceed after election day.

“People don’t reject reform as a result of they fail to know it. They reject being advised to sacrifice right this moment for aid that by no means arrives — or arrives with an expiry date.

“Atiku Abubakar has pledged to make Nigeria inexpensive once more by way of disciplined public spending, focused aid for households, decrease prices of manufacturing and shifting important items, and an economic system the place Nigerian producers can increase and make use of extra folks. Economic coverage needs to be judged by what households can afford, not by what number of deadlines a authorities declares.

“Tinubu should reply two questions: Are Nigerians higher off than they had been in May 2023? And will they nonetheless be capable to afford meals on day 91 of his plan?

“Until he can reply each, Nigerians have each purpose to see this 90-day train for what it’s: a political timetable dressed up as financial aid.

“President Tinubu made life expensive. Atiku Abubakar will make life affordable again.”