'Atiku’s subsidy-return plan unrealistic' - Presidency

President Bola Tinubu's Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on Friday said the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Atiku Abubakar needs to draw up what he termed "another seductive" campaign promise to Nigeria.

Onanuga said Atiku's campaign promises to restore the fuel subsidy are unrealistic.

He was reacting to comments by the former President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, Festus Osifo.

Osifo had said: "If you decide to be giving the refineries crude at the cost of production, the question is that how are you going to fund workers' salaries? How are you going to build roads? How are you going to build hospitals? How are you going to fund the military?

"So it's high time we start asking politicians the difficult questions, it's okay you could tell me that every morning you will supply bread to the entire Nigerian household, you tell me that you will build bakery in each and every street where they will give us bread every morning.

"But beyond that we should ask them, how would these be funded? Naturally, as an advocate of the Nigerian workers, we will be glad to see any presidential or gubernatorial candidate telling us that they will be paying Nigerian workers N500,000, we will dive into it.

"But the question is that how does this numbers add up, is it just campaign promises? Are these just rhetoric or they are backed up by the revenue or by solid and concrete plan."

Reacting, Onanuga posted on X: "Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar will need to go back to the drawing board to draw up another seductive campaign promise after listening to this interrogation by Osifo, ex-PENGASSAN chief, of his unrealistic subsidy-return plan."

'Atiku’s subsidy-return plan unrealistic' - Presidency