By Omeiza Ajayi

ABUJA: The camp of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has challenged President Bola Tinubu to return from his trip to Europe with concrete answers on the reconciliation of about ₦30 trillion in Federation Account Allocation Committee FAAC figures and roughly ₦34 trillion in Import Duty Exemption Certificate approvals, among other outstanding questions.

This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by Phrank Shaibu, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication to Atiku.

Shaibu said the questions could not go on leave simply because the President was away. “While you rest in Europe, millions of Nigerian parents lie awake at night, staring at empty cupboards and wondering how they will face their children in the morning,” he said. “That is the reality on our streets.”

Listing out the specific demands, Shaibu said: “When you return, bring answers. Reconcile the Federation Account figures of ₦30 trillion Naira. Provide full transparency around the duty exemptions of over ₦34 trillion Naira. Explain what Nigerians concretely received for the ₦15.8 trillion your government says subsidy removal mobilised. And explain why intervention is supposedly backward when Atiku proposes it, but miraculously becomes Renewed Hope when you announce it.”

On the Federation Account figures specifically, Shaibu said; “We have also repeatedly demanded a comprehensive reconciliation of the nearly ₦30 trillion identified across Federation Account revenues, deductions, savings, transfers and related entries. If our reconciliation is wrong, publish the complete ledger and establish the facts.”

He raised similar concerns over the scale of import duty waivers granted in 2025 worth over N34 trillion, insisting Nigerians were owed disclosure on who the exemptions benefited.

On the ₦15.8 trillion the government says was mobilised from subsidy removal between June 2023 and December 2025, Shaibu argued that Nigerians had made heavy sacrifices without a clear account of what they received in return.

Shaibu also queried the timing of the presidency’s sudden promise of relief measures, including cheaper transportation and increased food production, in the “next few weeks,” suggesting the announcement was tied to the approach of the 2027 elections rather than genuine economic recovery. “The answer is becoming increasingly obvious. After more than three years of hardship, Nigerians are now being offered a temporary dose of political anaesthesia as 2027 approaches. God forbid that Nigerians should mistake election-season relief for economic recovery”, he said.