President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has rebuffed claims by a former vice president Atiku Abubakar that his administration has failed Nigerians by imposing hardship on them through its various economic policies.
The president accused Abubakar of allowing his judgment to be clouded by his “animosity’ towards him and his government, saying he spoke as if he has personal scores to settle with him.
The president slammed the former Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, Presidential candidate in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga on Thursday , insisting that his government has performed since it go tot office two years ago.
According to Tinubu, he did not promise Nigerians that things will be easy when he took the reigns of government in May 29, 2023, in spite of this, the president said his government has done a lot to improve the lives of Nigerians.
Tinubu said the grievances that Abubakar has for the administration has prevented him from acknowledging the “positive achievements that have been achieved in the last two years, adding that Abubakar’s view of the situation in the country is not with “good conscience.”
He condemned the former vice president’s “vitriol against the Tinubu administration and the person of President Bola Tinubu, describing Abubakar’s assessment as “fallacies.”
“While I respect Atiku’s right to voice his opinions in our vibrant democracy, I need to set the record straight and address the fallacies in his commentary,” Onanuga said
“Unless he still lives in Dubai, he ought to admit that in just two years, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration has embarked on the most ambitious and audacious economic and institutional reforms ever seen in decades. During the campaign, Tinubu never promised that the reforms would be painless. But he was clear they were necessary to rescue the country from the brink of fiscal collapse to reverse years of unsustainable spending and lay a solid foundation for long-term inclusive growth,” the presidential aide said.
Onanuga noted that Abubakar and other presidential candidates in the 2023 election all promised to implement the economic reforms being implemented by the president, saying they would have done exactly what Tinubu is doing if they won the election. The reforms are painful, he said, but they are necessary to lay the foundation for the nation’s prosperity.
“The removal of the fuel subsidy and unification of the foreign exchange system were steps successive administrations, including that of Obasanjo-Atiku Abubakar, acknowledged as necessary but failed to implement. Atiku promised the reforms in his manifesto. Indeed, all three major candidates in the election agreed they must be done, except that the responsibility to implement the reforms fell on President Bola Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 election.
“Unlike Atiku and some critics, everyone agrees that the reforms have stabilised government finances, curbed systemic corruption, and enabled direct investments into social programmes and infrastructure. Foreign investors now see Nigeria as an irresistible destination. Since 2023, the Nigerian Exchange has seen its ASI jump from 50,000 to over 110,000, and market capitalisation has increased to N69.4 trillion, from about N30 trillion before Tinubu’s ascension.
“Contrary to Atiku’s claim that government policies are “anti-people,” the Tinubu administration, fully acknowledging that its policies affect the vulnerable, has increased investments in social safety nets, introduced targeted interventions for low-income households, and more than doubled the minimum wage, from N30k to N70k. Some states even pay up to N85k to their workers, a feat made possible by increased federal allocations.”
He added “Atiku’s claim that education was out of reach for poor Nigerians was entirely off the mark. Everyone knows the claim is false; it’s just an attempt to throw any muck at Bola Tinubu.
Since last year, the government has introduced the Student Loan Scheme to ensure that underprivileged children are not denied education because of poverty. As of the last count, over 600,000 Nigerian students have benefitted from the loans. The loans cover the students’ school fees and living allowances. The loans do not yet cover Nigerians in expensive schools like Atiku’s American University in Yola. What is undeniable is that under Bola Tinubu, higher education is now more accessible to deserving youths.”
Onanuga said Abubakar has allowed his sentiments to prevent him from acknowledging the successes the administration has recorded in the economic sector.
“Because Atiku does not like Bola Tinubu’s guts, he forgets to credit his administration with some of the fiscal achievements in the last two years. Revenue has increased phenomenally. The debt service ratio to revenue has declined from 93 per cent to 60 per cent. This government has paid off the $3.4 billion IMF loan obtained in the Covid years. The current administration has discontinued Ways & Means deficit financing for the first time in decades. State revenue has risen, and subnational governments now have greater resources for local development and to pay their debts. This is the only positive Atiku admitted, forgetting to praise the Tinubu government that made this possible.”
The magazine reported that Abubakar had, in his assessment of Tinubu’s midterm in office, gave a grim verdict of the president’s two years in power as Nigeria’s president and Commander-in-chief. The former vice president said Tinubu has failed in his promise to Nigerians by making the country the poverty capital of the world.
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