Opposition party members have kicked against the 30-day petrol discount announced on Thursday by the President Bola Tinubu administration.

Announcing the policy, the Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, said that NNPC Limited would offer discounted petrol at its filling stations nationwide for 30 days, with priority given to public transport operators.

Oyedele said the intervention would enable NNPC to sell petrol at cost by temporarily forgoing its profit margins, rather than restoring the subsidy regime removed in May 2023.

“We are offering a discount on petrol dispensed by NNPC Limited for the next 30 days, with priority for public transporters nationwide,” he said.

The discount, which is expected to bring relief to households, has been described by opposition members as a return of fuel subsidy.

Desperate measure that cannot repair damage — Atiku

Reacting, presidential candidate and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar described the move as a desperate, temporary gesture that cannot repair the damage caused by the crushing cost of fuel.

He said the same government had watched Nigerians endure excruciating hardship without offering meaningful relief. Now, as the election draws closer, President Tinubu is dangling a temporary discount at the very epicentre of the cost-of-living crisis that has tormented households and businesses.

“Atiku totally rejects this calendar-scheduled, election-laced subsidy package. Nigerians are not fools to be offered a month of discounted fuel after years of punishing prices and then expected to forget the hardship when the discount expires. This is shameless and heartless,” he said.

Atiku said the proposed 30-day discount was not an economic plan but a political bandage on a wound the government had helped create.

“What happens on Day 31? Nigerians wake up to the same brutal prices, the same punishing transport fares and the same rising cost of food. The government cannot manufacture relief for one month and expect Nigerians to applaud while the hardship remains,” he said.

He noted that the offer is limited to NNPC stations, while the government has yet to state how much motorists will save per litre or guarantee that any savings for transport operators will be passed on to passengers through lower fares.

Greek gift, election gimmick — Obidient Movement

The Obidient Movement has condemned the Federal Government's announcement of a 30-day petrol discount as an election gimmick designed to distract Nigerians from three years of economic hardship. The movement described it as a Greek gift from a government that has spent years making life unbearable for the very people it now wants to impress.

In a statement on Friday, the movement said that since taking office in 2023, President Bola Tinubu has consistently looked for innovative ways to increase the suffering of innocent Nigerians.

"Just like Rehoboam, who took the advice of evil men like him and decided to triple the suffering of his people, Tinubu has worked closely with his cartel to improvise new ways of perpetuating hunger, poverty and the groanings of Nigerians. From crushing fuel prices to ever-rising food costs, unaffordable tuition fees, higher energy costs, heavier taxes and a relentless decline in their purchasing power," it said.

"From his very first day in office, Tinubu's mission has always been to ensure that the poor will never be able to breathe. And apart from suffocating the poor, he has successfully impoverished the middle class, forcing them to also start rationing food. portions and determining what was more necessary between food and other basics. For the past three years, he and his cartel have continually insisted that Nigerians must endure the "pains" of his economic policies before they would enjoy a fictitious economic bloom."

The movement lamented that, with barely 100 days to an election, the same government, through Tinubu's yes-man and Finance Minister, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, has announced a 30-day discount as if there is a special promo campaign ongoing in Nigeria. "What changed? Has the hardship that Tinubu said was necessary suddenly become unnecessary because an election is approaching?" it asked.

"Tinubu has had three years to ease the suffering of Nigerians. Why is he offering 30 days of relief now? The timing raises legitimate questions about whether this is an attempt to win public goodwill after years of policies that have impoverished millions. This looks no different from the familiar politics of distributing rice and bread to voters while leaving the structural causes of poverty untouched. Nigerians need affordable living conditions, not temporary handouts designed to influence public sentiment before an election.
For three years, the government has demanded sacrifice from ordinary Nigerians while those in power and their privileged circles have continued to feast and squander our money on frivolities and Tinubu's pregnancy cravings. Nigerians have been told to endure pain, tighten their belts and accept that hardship is necessary. Yet, as election season approaches, relief suddenly becomes possible.

"The contradiction is glaring. If the government can intervene to reduce petrol prices today, why did it insist that Nigerians had to bear the full burden of these policies for so long? Why should relief come as a temporary election gimmick rather than a consistent economic policy?

"The Movement is also concerned that the government has not adequately explained the size of the discount, how it will be funded, or what happens when the 30 days expire. The Finance Minister says the arrangement is not a subsidy, yet the reported mechanism involves recovering the difference between selling prices and costs. Nigerians deserve full disclosure, not a change of terminology that leaves the financial arrangements unclear, like the APC has continually done in the last 11 years.

"Tinubu must stop treating the suffering of Nigerians as a political opportunity. The people have endured three years of painful and directionless economic policies. They should not be expected to mistake a 30-day discount for a solution to the hardship they face every single day.

"Nigerians need lasting relief, not election season Greek gifts. They need policies that make life affordable, not temporary gestures that leave the underlying crisis. untouched. The Obidient Movement calls on the Federal Government to publish the full terms of this discount and explain its funding, verification and continuation arrangements. Nigeriana deserve transparency, accountability and economic policies. built around their welfare, not the electoral calendar.

"The welfare of Nigerians must never be a seasonal political project," the movement said.

ASA