Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has criticised the Federal Government over the renewed threat by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to embark on a nationwide strike, asking the administration of President Bola Tinubu to account for funds saved from the removal of fuel subsidy.
Gatekeepers News reports that Atiku, in a statement issued on Sunday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said the latest ASUU crisis contradicted the Federal Government’s justification for ending fuel subsidy.
He argued that Nigerians had endured higher fuel prices, transport fares, food costs, energy bills and school fees following the policy, while public universities continued to face funding challenges and lecturers complained about unpaid entitlements and unresolved agreements.
“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?” Atiku asked.
His comments followed ASUU’s threat to commence a nationwide strike “within the shortest time possible” unless the government takes urgent steps to resolve issues affecting university lecturers.
The union’s National Executive Council reached the decision after an emergency meeting at the University of Abuja on Friday. ASUU President Chris Piwuna said the Federal Government and some state governments had failed to fully implement the agreement reached with the union in December 2025.
ASUU also raised concerns over deductions for pension contributions, staff cooperative societies and check-off dues, which it said had not been remitted for several months. The union further demanded payment of withheld salaries and implementation of outstanding agreements.
Reacting to the development, Atiku questioned why the condition of public education had not significantly improved if the removal of subsidy had released additional resources for governments.
He said the Federal Government had repeatedly pointed to increased allocations to states as part of the benefits of subsidy removal, but argued that Nigerians were still witnessing inadequate infrastructure and recurring industrial disputes in public universities.
“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?” he said.
Atiku also criticised the administration’s student loan policy, arguing that increasing the cost of living and education while lecturers remained dissatisfied did not amount to meaningful education reform.
He maintained that Nigerians deserved transparency on how the funds released by the removal of fuel subsidy had been spent, particularly in critical sectors such as education, healthcare and infrastructure.
The former vice-president said the renewed ASUU crisis demonstrated what he described as a contradiction between the government’s justification for subsidy removal and the condition of public services more than three years after the policy was introduced.
Federal Government has continued to defend its economic reforms, while ASUU’s latest threat has raised concerns about another disruption to the academic calendar if the outstanding issues are not resolved.
