Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga says former Vice President and 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar has “curved himself the role of opposition-in-chief to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his government.”
The presidential aide was responding to the former Vice President’s commentary on state of the economy and the efforts of the President Tinubu administration in remoulding it for sustained prosperity.
He accused Atiku of not offering 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“.
Onanuga added that President Tinubu acknowledged, on different occasions, that the reforms his government is implementing will cause immediate pains, but will usher in an era of prosperity in the medium and long terms.
“Atiku’s claims that the private sector is shrinking and that multinational companies are leaving our country in ‘droves’ are not grounded on facts.”
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According to Onanuga the national budget Tinubu met in 2023 showed that 97% of revenue was to be spent on debt servicing, with little reserved for capital, thereby foreclosing growth and jobs.
Adding that confronted with a 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 choose the former, to keep the economy afloat and set it back on the path of growth and prosperity.
“President Tinubu is focused on solving our economic and security challenges. The fiscal and monetary policies his administration is pursuing are delivering unprecedented value to investors on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Nigerian Stock Exchange is outperforming others in the world and is now the best, not based on bubble, but record profits by many listed companies.”
The administration has also embarked on comprehensive fiscal and tax policy reform that will drive speedy recovery and spur economic growth.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
