The presidency has criticized former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s economic proposals, arguing that his policies would have put Nigeria in a worse economic situation if he had won the 2023 presidential election.
In a statement titled “Our Initial Response to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar,” Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, addressed Atiku’s recent comments on President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms, describing Atiku’s approach as “untested” and lacking detail.
“Alhaji Atiku’s ideas, which lacked details, were rejected by Nigerians in the 2023 poll,” Onanuga stated. “If he had won the election, we believe he would have plunged Nigeria into a worse situation or run a regime of cronyism.”
The presidency accused Atiku, who served as Vice President under President Olusegun Obasanjo, of overseeing a “questionable privatisation programme” and allowing Nigeria’s educational system to deteriorate while he and Obasanjo founded private universities. “He and his boss demonstrated a lack of faith in our educational system, and both went to establish their universities while they allowed ours to flounder,” said Onanuga.
Reflecting on Atiku’s campaign promises, Onanuga claimed, “Abubakar lost the election partly because he vowed to sell the NNPC and other assets to his friends. Nigerians have not forgotten this, nor would they be comforted by Atiku’s antecedents when he ran the economy in the first term of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government between 1999 and 2003.”
Addressing Atiku’s suggestion for gradual economic reforms, the presidency asserted that this showed a disconnect with the magnitude of challenges faced by the Tinubu administration. “While advocating for gradual reforms may sound appealing, Tinubu took measures that should have been taken decades ago by Alhaji Abubakar and his boss when they had the opportunity,” Onanuga remarked, adding that Tinubu has “consistently emphasised the need for compassion and protection of the most vulnerable” and has targeted social safety nets to assist those affected by recent reforms.
Onanuga concluded, “Talk is cheap. It is easy to pontificate and deride a rival’s programmes even when there are irrefutable indices that the economic reforms yield positives despite the temporary difficulties.” He emphasized that Tinubu’s approach is aimed at addressing deep-seated economic issues, including the elimination of fuel subsidies and tackling forex market irregularities, describing these as “surgical” measures necessary for the nation’s financial stability.