Former Vice President of Nigeria Atiku Abubakar says President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies and approach to governance is killing Nigerians, and this should be his focus rather than attacking the opposition which is not in the saddle.
Atiku said this in a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, in reaction to an inelegant and insipid statement by the Presidency on Sunday.
The statement quoted the former Vice President as saying that, “On July 8, 2024, Tinubu announced that import duty on essential goods like food would be lifted for 150 days. But over 120 days later, the policy is yet to take off, while Nigerians continue to die daily due to increasing costs, including food inflation, which now exceeds 40%, the highest in decades.
“The brazen disobedience to a government policy by Tinubu’s appointees and the failure of the finance ministry to issue a gazette after over four months reflects the fatuousness, inanity and the incompetence that characterizes the Tinubu administration.
“Sadly, rather than focus on governance, they are preoccupied with verbally assaulting their opponents – Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi – while using compromised courts to foster crisis in the opposition. What a shame!”
Atiku argued that Tinubu’s abysmal performance in the last 18 months had made it clear to all Nigerians that he came into office unprepared, hence the many policy flip flops that has so far characterised his tenure.
He added, “Tinubu was obviously unprepared for office. He acts first and thinks of the consequences afterwards. This was why he announced an abrupt removal of petrol subsidy without any cushions. After seeing the effect, he then hurriedly decided to push a CNG initiative, which even he and his ministers have not embraced, hence their refusal to use it.
“The CNG initiative has so far failed to fully kick off because of a lack of gas infrastructure in most states. The result is that transport costs continue to soar along with prices of food.
“In his mid-term expenditure framework, he projected the exchange rate at N700/$1 in 2024 and N650/$1 by 2025. Rather than sack his economic advisers, he continues to live in a fool’s paradise, deceiving Nigerians about the FX reserve of $40bn when, in fact, the net reserves are less than 20% of that. Let the CBN release its financial statements of 2023 if he is sure of his achievements.”
Atiku described as unfortunate the announcement by the military authorities on the emergence of a new terror organization known as Lakurawa.
He argued that coupled with the incessant grid collapses in the north due to the activities of criminal elements, Tinubu ought to focus more on improving security, which is a sine qua non for investments.
The former Vice President argued that the President had decided to play politics with security by appointing his kinsmen in top security and economic positions.
“Even on the economy, he put his kinsmen in every key position beginning from finance minister, trade and investment, CBN, customs and FIRS. Even President Muhammadu Buhari was not this brazen. “Unlike Tinubu, Atiku is not a bigot. He has also not refunded money to the United States for alleged drugs trafficking. “
Despite a huge revenue challenge, Tinubu commits over $13bn to the controversial Lagos-Calabar coastal highway, rendering scores of Lagos residents homeless just to please his associates while other pressing matters are starved of funds.
Atiku advised Tinubu to make hay while the sun shines as Nigerians had grown tired of his administration.
