.Says Tinubu’s economic reforms are on target
CHIGOZIE AMADI
Presidency says the ideas of Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in 2023, lacked details and have been rejected by Nigerians.
Atiku, in a statement earlier berated the reform policies of President Bola Tinubu, calling for the repositioning of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and adoption of a gradualist approach to FX management at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
The presidency, on Sunday, responded in a release by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, emphasising that if Atiku had won the last general election, Nigeria would have been in a worse situation.
Onanuga said Tinubu’s economic reforms are well thought out and on target, and that the president has taken steps that should have been made while Atiku was the vice president.
He said, “talk is cheap. It is easy to pontificate and deride a rival’s programmes even when there are irrefutable indices that the economic reforms are yielding positives despite the temporary difficulties.
“Despite the futile attempt to hoodwink Nigerians again in his statement, it is gratifying that the former Vice President could not repudiate the economic reforms pursued by the Tinubu administration because they are the right things to do.
“His advocacy for a gradualist approach only showed that he was not in tune with the enormity of problems inherited by President Tinubu.
“President Tinubu met a country facing several grave challenges. Fuel subsidies were siphoning away enormous resources we could ill afford, and there was criminal arbitrage in the forex market. No leader worth his name will allow these two economic disorders to persist without moving to end them surgically.”
Onanuga, however, said the current administration identifies with Atiku’s call for empathy and a human face to reforms, noting that Tinubu has consistently stressed the need for compassion and protection of the most vulnerable.
“The administration has prioritised social safety nets and targeted support for those affected by recent economic transitions,” he stated.
