Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has doubled down on his criticism of President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies, insisting they have plunged Nigerians into hardship.

Mr Abubakar, in a statement by his spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu, on Tuesday, decried the high cost of petrol.

“And, Bola, Atiku is ashamed on your behalf that Nigeria, one of Africa’s major oil-producing nations, has reached the point where ordinary citizens pay significantly more for petrol than citizens of several other oil-producing countries with substantially higher incomes and living standards,” he said.

Mr Tinubu, on Monday, said he would not return the country to the policies his administration inherited, insisting his economic policies were yielding positive outcomes.

“We will not return Nigeria to the policies and distortions we inherited and have spent the last three years correcting. I will not dignify the leaders of the opposition who now seek to take Nigeria back to its dark past by mentioning their names. They know themselves,” the president stated.

The former vice president, who cited cheaper petrol prices in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Algeria and others, lamented that petrol was sold considerably lower in war-ravaged Libya than in Nigeria.

“Saudi Arabia sells petrol at about ₦778 per litre. Kuwait is around ₦872. Algeria is about ₦475. Angola is about ₦441. Even the United Arab Emirates, where average incomes are vastly higher than Nigeria’s, sells petrol below Nigeria’s roughly ₦1,400 per litre.

“And, Bola, Atiku is particularly ashamed on your behalf when he looks at Libya. A country battered by years of political instability still sells petrol at roughly ₦34 per litre and ranks around 115th globally in human development. Nigeria sells petrol at roughly ₦1,400 per litre and ranks around 164th,” he added.

Mr Abubakar further accused Mr Tinubu of using the country’s natural resources to punish its citizens, noting Nigerians “earn less, live under greater pressure and yet pay more for the fuel that drives transportation, farming, food distribution, manufacturing and virtually every aspect of daily life”.

Mr Abubakar berated the Tinubu-led government for celebrating economic reforms while forcing Nigerians to pay more for fuel and experience a lower standard of living.