Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria's former Vice President, has maintained that President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies and approach to governance were killing Nigerians.
According to him, Tinubu should focus on solving this problem rather than attacking the opposition which is not in the saddle.
Atiku in a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, in Abuja, yesterday, spoke in response to an earlier statement issued by the Presidency.
The Presidency’s statement which was issued on Sunday, stated that Atiku’s criticisms of Tinubu’s policies were driven by jealousy.
Atiku said: “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 per cent, 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 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 have so far characterised his tenure.
He added, “Tinubu was unprepared for office. He acts first and thinks of the consequences afterwards. This was why he announced an abrupt removal of the 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 $ 40 billion when, in fact, the net reserves are less than 20 per cent 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 organisation 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.
He said that the President had decided to play politics with security by appointing his kinsmen in top security and economic positions.
Atiku said: “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 $13billion 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 shone as Nigerians had grown tired of his administration.
He reiterated that the President has just barely two years left in office and he should focus on improving the lives of the people.
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