Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has said that, unlike Germany, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has failed to cut petrol taxes to ease the economic hardship Nigerians are facing.
Atiku made this disclosure in a statement issued by his spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu, on Friday.
According to him, Nigerians have continued to suffer from high fuel prices, with the government failing in its most basic duty to protect ordinary Nigerians from crushing economic hardship.
He noted that families are skipping meals, struggling to pay for transportation and watching their hard-earned money disappear before the month is over.
“Germany, which shares a border with France, Tinubu’s ‘new home,’ is cutting fuel taxes to shield its people from rising costs.
“Germany has cut gasoline and diesel taxes by €0.17 per litre from October through December, at an estimated cost of €2.5 billion. Prices at the pump have begun to fall.
“When petrol becomes more expensive, transportation becomes more expensive. When transportation costs rise, food and other essentials cost more. The hardship follows Nigerians from the filling station to the market and into their homes.
“Germany understands that when fuel prices put families under pressure, government must act. Nigerians deserve the same compassion and urgency.
“Our plan is to restore targeted, budgeted support for fuel refined in Nigeria, with strict auditing and a guarantee that the benefit lowers pump prices. Support will follow the barrel refined here, creating jobs here and easing costs for Nigerians. It will be funded by cutting waste, protected against diversion and price manipulation, and will not apply to imported fuel.
“To every Nigerian forced to choose between feeding a family, paying for transportation or meeting another basic need, I am deeply sorry. You did not deserve this hardship. Tinubu made life unbearably expensive and called your suffering the price of reform. I will make life affordable again,” he stated.
DAILY POST reports that petrol is currently sold between N1,370 and N1,420 per litre in Abuja and its environs.
Tinubu failed to cut petrol taxes to ease hardship, unlike Germany – Atiku