By Joseph Erunke, Abuja
The National Association of Nigerian Students ,NANS,has rejected former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s promise to restore fuel subsidy if elected President, describing the proposal as a desperate political response to the economic hardship confronting Nigerians.
NANS President, Comr. Akinteye Babatunde Afeez, who stated this in a statement on Wednesday, argued that returning to the subsidy regime without addressing the structural weaknesses that made it unsustainable would amount to reversing a difficult but necessary economic reform.
Afeez said while subsidy removal had imposed severe hardship on Nigerians through increased fuel, transportation and food prices, the policy had also created fiscal space for government and eliminated what he described as a major distortion in the economy.
According to him, the critical question Nigerians should ask is whether the trillions of naira previously committed to subsidising petrol could have been better deployed to address the country’s infrastructure, healthcare, education and other pressing development needs.
He said: “Every sane and patriotic citizen who is conversant with our nation’s economy will agree with me that the removal of the fuel subsidy was a difficult but necessary economic reform aimed at ending an increasingly unsustainable system that consumed trillions of naira, benefited higher fuel consumers disproportionately, encouraged smuggling, and constrained the government’s ability to invest in critical sectors.”
The NANS president, however, acknowledged the hardship caused by the reform, stressing that the real test of subsidy removal was not merely the savings accruing to government but how effectively the freed resources were deployed to improve citizens’ welfare.
He said government must ensure that the sacrifices made by Nigerians translate into tangible improvements in education, healthcare, infrastructure, agriculture and other critical sectors.
Afeez maintained that any proposal to restore subsidy without a clear plan for resolving the structural problems that undermined the policy in the first place could only recreate the same crisis.
“This is why calls or promises for the outright return of subsidy, without a clear structural framework for addressing the fundamental weaknesses that made the policy unsustainable in the first place, amount to little more than a political response to a genuine economic challenge,” he said.
NANS urged Nigerians not to allow the immediate pain of economic reforms to undermine the need for long-term restructuring, insisting that political aspirants must present sustainable policies capable of transforming the economy rather than offering short-term relief.
The students’ body also challenged presidential aspirants to come to national debates with concrete economic blueprints that would not merely provide temporary comfort but establish a sustainable foundation for national development.
Afeez said his opposition to Atiku’s proposal was not partisan, stressing that NANS had a responsibility to scrutinise government policies and political promises in the national interest.
He added that the country could not afford to return to a system in which huge public resources were devoted to fuel subsidy while many states struggled to meet their financial obligations and critical infrastructure remained inadequate.
He therefore urged Atiku to reconsider his position, saying the former vice president should not support a policy which, in NANS’ assessment, had placed an unsustainable financial burden on the country.
Afeez said: “Every aspirant willing to rule Nigeria and not run or, perhaps, ruin her must come to national debates with clear and sustainable policies that do not just address the immediate needs or comfort of our people, but rather, policies that best shape our country and can stand the test of time.”
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