.Says I’m not jealous of President
Blessing Taiwo
2023 Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has said the economic policies of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu are killing Nigerians.
Atiku called on Tinubu to focus on governance and stop attacking the opposition, in response to the presidency’s statement after his counsel on reform policies.
This was contained in a press release by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, made available to newsmen on Monday.
Atiku argued that Tinubu’s performance in the last 18 months shows that he came into office unprepared, hence the policy flip flops in his administration.
He said, “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.”
The former vice president described as unfortunate the announcement by the military authorities on the emergence of a new terror organisation known as Lakurawa.
He stated 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 is playing 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 said.
He urged Tinubu to act fast as he barely has two years left in office adding that he should focus on improving the lives of the people.
“Naira is currently the worst performing currency in Africa and Nigeria is now the 5th largest economy on the continent, falling from first when the failure called APC took over in 2015. Most Nigerians are at their wits’ end, not knowing where their next meal will come from. This should be Tinubu’s biggest concern instead of fiddling while the country burns,” he ended.
