Tinubu, Atiku trade words over fuel subsidy, economic hardship

Mkpoikana Udoma

Port Harcourt — Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and President Bola Tinubu, have engaged in war of words over the biting economic hardship in the country, orchestrated by fuel subsidy removal and increasing foreign exchange rate.

While the former Vice President accused President Tinubu and his appointees of lack of capacity, saying that the 2024 budget was bereft of concrete ideas and actions that would support Nigeria’s journey toward economic transformation.

Atiku Said the 2024 budget consisted mainly of wasteful expenditures to cater to a bloated Federal Government, adding that Tinubu’s poor response to Nigeria’s economic challenges was setting the stage for a prolonged and deeper domestic economic crisis.

Atiku on his official X handle who accused Tinubu of coming into the office unprepared, said the President and his appointees were busy blaming his predecessor in office for bequeathing a ‘dead’ economy, in order to mask their failures.

He advised Tinubu and his economic management team to swallow their pride, admit their missteps and failures, and act fast before the economy sinks deeper into the abyss.

He said, “His economic policies, drawn from a so-called renewed hope agenda, are ironically dashing hopes, creating pain and causing despair. The private sector is shrinking by the day as small businesses are emasculated and as multinational companies, confused and weary of the economy, leave Nigeria in droves.

“The intense cost of living pressures has created more misery for the poor in towns and villages. There is hunger in the land as basic commodities, including bread, are becoming out of reach for average Nigerians.

“His 2024 budget is a business-as-usual exercise, bereft of concrete ideas and actions that would support Nigeria’s journey toward economic transformation—consisting mainly of wasteful expenditures to cater to a bloated Federal Government. Budget 2024 will not facilitate growth and cannot empower our citizens to earn a living and live a decent life.

“BAT has shown no capacity to deal with the adverse and disastrous impact of the new subsidy regime on the people and businesses and the new foreign exchange policy, which provides for a free-floating exchange rate. His initiatives are literally uninformed, arbitrary, and chaotic. BAT’s palliatives are too mean, pitiable, and contemptuous of the poor. He seems genuinely lost, bewildered, and overwhelmed.”

But in a swift reaction, the Presidency has described the former Vice President as opposition-in-chief to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his government, accusing him of offering pedestrian and uninformed interventions on the economy and other matters of public concerns.

Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga said Atiku who accused President Tinubu of poor response to the nation’s challenges and causing pains and despair, failed to 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.

“Minus Atiku, reputable local and international agencies who understand the situation the Tinubu administration found itself have commended the administration, having seen a policy trajectory that is clearly positive, realistic and sustainable.

“Atiku’s claims that the private sector is shrinking and that multinational companies are leaving our companies in ‘droves’ are not grounded on facts. 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.

“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.

“Atiku should be honest enough to admit that President Tinubu inherited a weak economy, which to all intents and purposes and to ensure the survival of our country needs a complete overhaul.”