Tanya Davidson
Abuja — Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress, ADC, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has linked the deaths of 37 suspected artisanal miners in Niger State to Nigeria’s cost-of-living pressures, arguing that economic reforms should ultimately be measured by their impact on household livelihoods.
Atiku made the argument during a visit to Minna, where he met families and survivors of the miners who died in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, and announced a N20 million donation to support affected families.
The circumstances surrounding the deaths remain under investigation, with the Federal Government having constituted an independent panel to investigate the incident.
He said the incident should prompt a wider examination of why young Nigerians were increasingly turning to hazardous and poorly regulated livelihoods to survive.
“But beyond establishing what happened in that detention facility, we must also ask why so many of our young people are being pushed into dangerous and precarious livelihoods simply to survive,” Atiku said.
The ADC candidate connected that argument to his proposed economic policies, particularly his plan for a targeted production subsidy for petroleum products refined in Nigeria.
Atiku said the proposed intervention would support domestic refining rather than restore the previous system of subsidising imported petrol, with the stated objective of lowering fuel prices and reducing pressure on households and businesses.
“My promise to make life affordable again is not a political slogan. It is a solemn covenant with the Nigerian people,” he said.
“We will support what Nigeria produces. We will support fuel refined in Nigeria, create Nigerian jobs and insist that every naira of government support delivers a measurable benefit to the consumer.”
Atiku’s proposal has already drawn questions from the APC Presidential Campaign Council and the Presidency over its legal, fiscal and operational framework. The State House has pointed to Section 205(1) of the Petroleum Industry Act, which provides for market forces to determine wholesale and retail petroleum prices, while the APC-PCC has asked Atiku to disclose details including the proposed subsidy rate, funding source and safeguards against abuse.
Atiku, however, argued that the broader objective of economic policy should be to expand legitimate opportunities and reduce the pressures pushing young Nigerians towards risky livelihoods.
“Economic reform must ultimately be measured by what it does to the lives of ordinary people,” he said.
“If life becomes progressively more difficult for families, workers and young people, then government has a responsibility to reconsider the choices producing those outcomes.”
He said Nigeria needed to invest more deliberately in young people through education, skills, jobs and productive opportunities.
The former vice president also said the deaths of the miners demanded truth, justice and accountability, while calling attention to the economic circumstances surrounding the growth of hazardous informal livelihoods.
