Atiku Abubakar, a former PDP presidential candidate, criticized President Bola Tinubu’s first year in office, stating that Nigeria’s economic situation has worsened rather than improved.
Atiku characterized Tinubu’s inaugural year as a series of “trial-and-error economic policies,” failing to deliver on the promises made to Nigerians.
Reflecting on Tinubu’s initial pledges, Atiku noted that the president had raised public expectations by promising to “remodel our economy to bring about growth and development through job creation, food security, and an end to extreme poverty.”
Tinubu also vowed to boost the economy to double-digit growth, targeting a US$1 trillion economy within six years, and to alleviate the cost-of-living crisis.
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Atiku, in a statement issued on Wednesday, highlighted the optimism that greeted Tinubu’s assurances, especially after the economic challenges under former President Muhammadu Buhari.
However, he pointed out that Tinubu’s approach lacked a concrete plan and was marred by a series of ineffective policies.
“Tinubu laid out no plans for the ‘remodeling’ of the economy but soon embarked on a cocktail of policies to achieve it,” Atiku said.
He detailed several controversial measures, including the elimination of PMS subsidies in May 2023 and a new foreign exchange policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that consolidated multiple FX windows into a single market.
Additional policies included tightening monetary policy to reduce Naira liquidity, raising monetary policy rates, introducing cost-reflective electricity tariffs, and imposing a cybersecurity tax.
Atiku argued that these policies have failed to stabilize the economy, exacerbating the issues they aimed to resolve. “Predictably, 12 months on, Tinubu’s pledge of growing the economy and ending misery remains unfulfilled.
His actions or inactions have significantly worsened Nigeria’s macroeconomic stability,” he asserted.
The former vice president painted a bleak picture of Nigeria’s current economic state, stating that the country is more fragile now than a year ago.
He pointed to persistent problems of joblessness, poverty, and misery that have only worsened since Tinubu took office.
Atiku emphasized that Nigeria, once Africa’s leading economy, has now fallen to fourth place, trailing behind Algeria, Egypt, and South Africa.
“Citizens’ hopes have been dashed (and not renewed contrary to the propaganda of the administration) as Nigeria’s economic woes have multiplied,” Atiku concluded, criticizing what he perceives as the administration’s failure to deliver on its promises.