The Presidency, on Sunday, reacted to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s criticism of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, claimed that Tinubu is focused on “solving our economic and security challenges,” admitting that his reforms would cause “immediate pains, but will usher in an era of prosperity in the medium and long terms.”
Onanuga made these assertions in a statement titled ‘Atiku Abubakar and his new hobby.’
Recall that Atiku said Tinubu’s economic policies were dashing hopes, creating pain, and causing despair among Nigerians.
Atiku argued that President Tinubu’s poor response to the nation’s challenges was setting the stage for a prolonged and deeper economic crisis.
But the Presidency faulted Atiku’s assertions about the rising cost of living saying, “His claim that the government’s policies have created intense cost of living pressures are also not grounded on facts as recent comparative cost of living indices show that Nigerians still enjoy the lowest cost of living in Africa.”
“Atiku’s claims that the private sector is shrinking and that multinational companies are leaving our companies in ‘droves’ are not grounded on facts,” Onanuga added.
His words: “Nigerians can easily see through the hypocrisy of Alhaji Atiku, who in accusing President Tinubu of poor response to the nation’s challenges and causing pains and despair, didn’t offer any better policy options in his run for the Presidency different from the economic reform agenda being pursued by President Tinubu.
“However, we notice that the former Vice-President, just like in his political contests, is also doing a poor job of it, offering pedestrian and uninformed interventions on our economy and other matters of public concerns.
READ ALSO: Students Loan Will End Incidents Of Drop Outs – Tinubu
“Atiku’s latest diatribe was another uncharitable commentary on the state of the economy and the efforts of the President Bola Tinubu administration in remoulding it for sustained prosperity.
“Nigerians can easily see through the hypocrisy of Alhaji Atiku, who in accusing President Tinubu of poor response to the nation’s challenges and causing pains and despair, didn’t offer any better policy options in his run for the Presidency different from the economic reform agenda being pursued by President Tinubu.
“All the major candidates agreed that the fuel subsidy regime, which had become an albatross on the economy, must end. They all agreed that the multiple exchange rates must be fixed. Where President Tinubu and Atiku differed was in selling NNPC Limited and other national assets. Atiku went for this so he could sell these important national assets to his friends and cronies.
“President Tinubu removed the subsidy from Day One and announced moves to harmonise the exchange rates. Since then, he and his economic team have been working vigorously to harmonise the rates and also end the rampant and criminal arbitrage that the multiple windows allowed.”
Onanuga furthered that: “Instead of mouthing platitudes every time in a bid to earn cheap political mileage, Alhaji Atiku who presumes himself as the leader of opposition should tell Nigerians what he would have done better if he had been elected President.
“The economy was plagued by decades of significant fiscal deficits, a low revenue base, high external and domestic debts, and huge debt service burden.
“The national budget Tinubu met in 2023 showed that 97 percent of revenue was to be spent on debt servicing, with little reserved for capital, thereby foreclosing growth and jobs.
“Confronted with this grim economic reality, President Tinubu faced a difficult choice of balancing the political and economic costs of reforms against the risks of economic recession. His government chose the former, to keep the economy afloat and set it back on the path of growth and prosperity.”
