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  • Atiku, Obaseki, Fayemi, Abiodun greet Muslims

    Atiku, Obaseki, Fayemi, Abiodun greet Muslims

    Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, has enjoined Muslim faithful in Nigeria to assume the month of Ramadan by seeking Allah’s mercy and forgiveness

    A press statement from the Atiku Media Office, said Muslims across the world, especially in Nigeria should spend more time supplicating to God for His mercy on the country and on us as individuals.

    He noted that while this year’s Ramadan is happening at a time when there is acute hardship in the country, “it therefore becomes more important for those with means to ensure that they extend their charity far greater than the previous years.”

    Atiku further enjoins every Muslim to be steadfast in the requirements of this holy month and prays that the Almighty Allah shall shower His mercy and blessings on Nigeria and guide the country to increased prosperity and peace, during and after the Ramadan period.

    Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, called on Muslim faithful to foster good neighbourliness and kindness during the Ramadan season.

    Obaseki stated that the fasting period should serve as a time for soulful reflection, devotion, prayers and to care for one another.

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    He said: “As the Muslim faithful embark on Ramadan, I implore you to uphold the virtues of Islam by showing love and compassion to all. It is a time to show good neighbourliness, and extend a helping hand to the needy in the society, especially in these trying times.

    “The Ramadan season is coming at a time when many people are faced with dire economic challenges. It is best to show love this period, as we approach the period solemnly.”

    Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun has urged Muslims to use the period to pray for Nigeria to overcome the various challenges currently facing the country.

    Prince Abiodun also urged Nigerians, especially the well to do, to help the needy in their communities during this Ramadan period.

     In his Ramadan message yesterday, Governor Abiodun noted that all hands must be on deck in the ongoing efforts by the federal, state and local governments to create a better Nigeria that all her citizens would be proud of.

    The governor said the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration is focused and determined to make Nigeria better economically, adding that Nigerians must buy into those efforts and give their maximum support to the government.

    He expressed the need for Muslims to imbibe the spirit of compassion, discipline, holiness, and righteousness during the holy month of Ramadan and beyond.

    He said: “Ramadan is a time of reflection, fasting, prayer, and self-discipline. It is a month of immense spiritual significance for Muslims worldwide. It is a time for deepening our faith, fostering compassion, and strengthening our bond as a community.

    “During this sacred month, let us embrace the teachings of Islam and strive for greater righteousness, patience, and empathy towards one another. Let us remember the less fortunate among us and extend a helping hand to those in need.

    “I urge all Muslim faithful to observe the fast with utmost devotion, seeking spiritual purification and a closer connection with Allah. Let us use this period to pray for peace, unity, and progress in our state and our nation as a whole.”

    Former Governor of Ekiti State and Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF),  Dr Kayode Fayemi, extended his best wishes to the Muslims, encouraging them to use the annual fast as an opportunity for self-reflection, prayer, and to deepen community spirit.

    He also noted that this year’s Ramadan commences during the Christian Lent holds profound significance and illustrates a shared commitment to spiritual devotion and self-discipline by the two faiths.

    He stated that as both Christians and Muslims engage in fasting and prayer during the same period, it provides an opportunity for individuals from diverse faith backgrounds to empathize with one another and strengthen their interfaith connections.

    According to him, Ramadan is not merely about abstaining from food and drink from dawn until sunset but a time for spiritual growth, self-discipline, and empathy.

    “It is an opportunity for Muslims to draw closer to God, strengthen their faith, and deepen their bonds with other members of the community.

    “The true essence of Ramadan lies in the values of sacrifice, humility, gratitude, compassion, and awareness of our duties to our Creator and humanity. As our Muslim brothers and sisters embark on this spiritual journey, may these virtues strengthen their faith and inspire them to be examples of peace, justice, and service to our country.

    “The Ramadan Fast should instill empathy for the less fortunate, reminding us of the value of charity and kindness to others, regardless of their background or circumstances,” he said.

  • Why Atiku goofed on Argentina model recommendations – Adebayo

    Why Atiku goofed on Argentina model recommendations – Adebayo

    Presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 2023  election, Prince Adewole Ebenezer Adebayo, in an online interview with journalists talks about what he would have done differently if  he had won the February 25 2023 presidential election, what it takes to fix Nigeria, among other issues. Excerpts: 

    You said if you had won the 2023 presidential election you would have done things differently, what are those things you would have done differently?

    I am not surprised at the state of things, but I am disappointed. It doesn’t matter who you put there, this would still have been the outcome if you had adopted the present policies.

    We were asking Nigerians to pay attention as we were debating these issues. There were three policies that we needed to deal with. What do we do with the issue of the cost of governance? What do we do with the issue of subsidies, not only petroleum but subsidies in many other sectors? What do we do with the issue of foreign exchange? On these three issues, I have fundamental disagreement with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu; ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar; former Governor Peter Obi, and many other people who were on that side. These policies will not work. It has never worked in any country before.

    In Nigeria, in the past, including when we did the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), it didn’t work for us. It is not about one person who is good. Another is bad. If you drag me to the villa or Eagle Square and force me to announce these policies, you will get the same result. Anyone who adopts these same policies will get the same result.

    I am surprised that some personalities were talking about the Argentina model, I am very familiar with the Argentina model. If you ask an average Argentine to choose between President Javier Milei and President Bola Tinubu, they will tell you to bring Tinubu and give you Milei.

    You are saying Atiku Abubakar was wrong with the Argentina model recommended to Tinubu…

    I can say former  Vice President Atiku Abubakar may be well-intentioned but was misinformed. It is an error. If you look at the situation in Argentina, we may get to that position. I hope we are not, but we are travelling in that direction, but they are ahead of us in terms of misery.  They have one month of 512% of inflation. I don’t know if economists can understand the temperature of  512%. They have lost virtually all their wealth. The person there now is from the Austrian school of thought. The Argentines are complaining every day as they have had the worst economic performance since 1980. I’m not saying we should not criticize the government of President Tinubu but you do not say somebody complaining of too much sun should be put in the oven, that’s not the way to solve the problem.

    These policies are not working. Unfortunately, Nigerians have voted for these policies. We voted for these policies either because we didn’t pay attention or we didn’t understand the implications of these policies. When you decide to say you vote for a government that said it would remove subsidies on day one, which was what President Tinubu said, which was what Atiku said, which was what Obi said. People thought they had experience and maybe they were more realistic than us. So, they voted that way. So, any of them that formed the government and adopted any of these policies will have, at the minimum, what we are experiencing now or even worse. These policies are not good, not because of the parties announcing them but because structurally they are not suitable for us.

    Of course, they come with some benefits, and you can see the benefits. More income to the government, for example, because they are not subsidising anymore. More income from the foreign exchange differential because they are not defending the naira in the old way anymore.

    You also have the benefits of goods becoming cheaper, that’s why people are saying they are exporting goods from Nigeria to Niger and neighbouring countries, because with lower currency, our goods and any other thing we produce become cheaper, those are the advertised benefits, but we are not structurally prepared for them.

    If you were President Tinubu today, what would you be doing differently?

    If I became president, I would not announce any of these policies. I would immediately go to the National Assembly to amend the Appropriation Act and the Petroleum Industry Act to remove these statutory mandates to yank off the subsidy.

    So, they need a change of direction even though I cannot guarantee that a well-experienced accountant who is a cost cutter like Tinubu who has Wale Edun around him and has chosen Cardoso as his preferred Central Bank Governor, I don’t think they are willing to change for now. I think they should just be a little more efficient in the macro-economy policies they have taken, and there are five measures they should have if they must take it. One such is that they must have a way to increase their revenue because right now, they are just collecting less than 20% of the collectibles.

    Secondly, they need to bring efficiency to their accounts.  Running a free market economy as they are going towards, they need more feedback, more sensitivity, and quicker reaction time, which means they need to put sharper and smarter people in their governance.

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    Thirdly, they need to restructure the government spending in such a way that they separate the fiscal spending that they are controlling and let the CBN governor run his monetary policy and be the banker to the country, not the banker to the government alone.

    Fourthly, they need to find ways to generate employment.

    Lastly, they need to do something about inflation.

    What should Tinubu do politically to douse the tension in the land?

    He needs to be like the head of state, like the father of the nation. He needs to engage people more. However, people need to understand at the same time that you voted for these policies. It is like the people of Israel asking Moses to lead them out of Egypt and on getting to the wilderness, they realised it was not an easy place to be and they started complaining. That is a normal thing. The people of Nigeria voted for these policies. The government should use humility to reach out to the people and at the same time, show social justice to the people by making sure that the burden of this hardship is not borne only by the less privileged.

    Do you think the president has what it takes to fix this country?

    I have the feeling that anybody who is determined to fix Nigeria and who wants to listen to Nigerians and carry everybody along and look for the best talent and not just political parties alone will do well. I would have preferred that Nigerians voted for me, which was why I didn’t support him.

    I think I would have done better than him. But anybody who is out there, and who is determined to use all the resources in Nigeria can succeed. Of course,  the president is a Nigerian,  a well-educated person, quite intelligent.

  • Reforms: Group blasts Atiku, faults ex-VP’s recommendation

    Reforms: Group blasts Atiku, faults ex-VP’s recommendation

    The Tinubu Media Support Group (TMSG) has faulted former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s recommendation for the adoption of measures introduced by Argentina’s President Javier Milei for solving Nigeria’s current economic challenges.

    The group said the recommendation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) 2023 Presidential candidate was a reflection of a confused mindset.

    The chairman of TMSG, Jesutega Onokpasa in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday, said Atiku’s position showed that the Waziri Adamawa and his handlers did not have a proper understanding of the Argentina situation before and after Milei assumed office in December 2023.

    According to Onokpasa, “We know that the Argentina President inherited an economy in a worse situation than what President Bola Tinubu met on ground but we wondered what former Vice President Atiku Abubakar found so exciting about Milei’s reforms that he considered worth emulating?

    “We however noticed that the former Vice President alluded to a report by Reuters to back his conviction, so we consider it necessary to remind him that he has never deemed it necessary to praise President Tinubu on the basis of the constant positive assessment of the Tinubu administration’s policies by the same international media outfit.

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    “The perennial presidential candidate wants President Tinubu to toe Javier Milei’s path but he pretends not to notice that since he assumed office in December, poverty in Argentina has risen towards 60%, the highest in 20 years-leading to increasing daily protests on the streets after a series of reforms including a 50% devaluation of the peso.

    “Is he also aware that President Milei had, on assuming office, said he would introduce what he described as shock therapy that would induce short term pains but long term gains?

    “We are surprised that the President of Nigeria which is recording more favourable numbers than Argentina is not getting a benefit of the doubt even as he also promised long term benefits after announcing an end to fuel subsidy the day he was sworn into office.

    “Atiku, as usual, was wrong when he wrote on his X platform that Nigeria and Argentina ‘had closed the last quarter of the year 2023 on a similar path of economic downturn’.

    “This is outright falsehood because while Nigeria’s Q4 GDP figures showed a 3.46% growth, higher than the 2.54% of the third quarter of 2023,that of Argentina contracted by 19.4%.

    “Besides, inflation in Nigeria stood at 29.90% in January but that of Argentina is 254%,higher than that of Venezuela.

    “And while we are not outrightly dismissive of Millei’s ‘shock therapy’ in the context of the situation in that country, we know that Argentines are still waiting to see how it will work but to our shock, we have a former Vice President who prides himself as an economic expert saying it is the best for Nigeria.

    “Atiku praised Milei for reducing the number of ministries in Argentina and we also expect him to hail President Tinubu for his show of political will to implement the Oronsaye report,12 years after it was submitted for implementation.

    “Let’s we forget, the Argentina President introduced privatisation measures,expanded presidential powers and enforced cuts in public spending but he has also scaled down workers rights and the right to protest as well as removed subsidy on energy and transportation.

    “We however need to place it on record that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which is known to recommend austerity measures weighed in to urge the Argentina authorities to shield the masses from the harsh measures.

    “We wonder if these are the same things Atiku said he was attracted when he said Milei’s plan is similar to his ‘Recover Nigeria Plan’ but we make bold to say that it is a poison chalice which Nigerians saw through and consequently rejected because of his antecedents in office,” It added.

    The group then urged Nigerians to ignore Atiku and continue to trust in President Tinubu’s ability to turn things around in the long run.

  • How to fix economy, stimulate growth, by Atiku

    How to fix economy, stimulate growth, by Atiku

    • Ex-VP urges Tinubu to adopt Argentina model

    Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has urged President Bola Tinubu to emulate his Argentine counterpart, Javier Milei, for accelerated economic growth in Nigeria.

    In a tweet posted last night on X, following a report by Reuters International news agency on Argentina’s market optimism, Atiku called for a decisive action to tackle Nigeria’s economic challenges.

    “I read a recent report in the Reuters, titled: Argentina’s market double down on Milei as investors ‘start to believe’; I took a keen interest in reading the report because I know quite well that Argentina and Nigeria closed the last quarter of the Year 2023 on a similar path of economic downturn.

    “In the case of Nigeria, a new government was installed at or about the middle of 2023; for Argentina, the new government came on board in December; both leaders inherited a disoriented economy, but both applied different measures to recovery.

    “President Javier Milei of Argentina was sworn into office on December 10, 2023; he inherited a worse condition than Nigeria’s. But what he did to return his country to a place where investors are ‘starting to believe’ should serve as a lesson to Nigeria’s Bola Tinubu.

    “Nigeria is where we are today simply because of what Tinubu has done or did not do; his shifting the blame on the opposition and, even ridiculously, his predecessor is needless and myopic; market forces don’t play politics, they respond to your actions and inactions.

    “President Milei’s major campaign promise was to re-position the Argentine economy after years of slow growth, high debt levels, triple-digit inflation (160 per cent when he took over the Presidency in December 2023) and 40 per cent poverty rate; his first task was to begin implementing measures to achieve greater macroeconomic stability and promote higher global competitiveness. 

    “He came into the office with a comprehensive stabilisation plan, which seeks to implement far-reaching measures within the context of a market-oriented economy; he started off cutting government expenditure by cutting the size of government and wastages; blocked stealing of government funds, and attracted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) through concessions, tax holidays, and improved ease of doing business.

    “President Milei flies regular business class for all his travels and does not offer the presidential fleet of Argentina for his son’s birthday; likewise, there is no settlement for his hangers-on and political allies through unwieldy and burdensome appointments to public offices,” Atiku stated.

    The former Vice President drew further contrast between Nigeria and Argentina, saying he has a sure recipe for Nigeria’s economic restoration.

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    Atiku added that he was willing to discuss his solutions with the Federal Government.

    The former Vice President expressed his liking for the Argentine economic turnaround, saying: “I am attracted to the reforms in Argentina because Javier Milei’s stabilisation plan bears a similar emblem with my Recover Nigeria Plan; it is a plan that I am more than willing to disclose details of its workings with the current government in order to take Nigeria out of the depth of hunger and anger that we find ourselves.

    “The plan includes strategic steps we must take to recover the economy and make it stronger, dynamic, resilient, and competitive; we had outlined plans to relax the fiscal constraints facing us to include:

    • Improving spending efficiency and blocking leakages

    • Saving money through:

    a. A review of fiscal support for non-performing government enterprises and the privatization of those that cannot sustain themselves.

    b. Steps to improve spending efficiency through a gradual reduction in government recurrent expenditures, ensuring that those expenditures reflect higher levels of service delivery. Over the medium term, recurrent expenditures should not exceed 45 per cent of the budget.

     c. A review of government procurement processes to ensure high levels of transparency, competitiveness, and value-for-money and eliminate all leakages.

    “Unless, and until there are clear-cut policies and pathway to economic rejuvenation predicated on a leadership led sacrifice, there will be discontentment, especially among the youths, which may find expression in protests and for which it will be silly to continue to blame the opposition for,” Atiku said.

  • Atiku and PDP governors

    Atiku and PDP governors

    If the situation were not as serious as we have it at the moment, one would have been content to sit back to enjoy the self-serving remonstrations of an elite class for whom everything begins and ends with politics. It’s been a week of brickbats between the PDP governors and the Bola Tinubu administration on the one hand and, the perennial presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar versus the Tinubu administration on the other, with the PDP governors only wrapping up a rather tumultuous week with an encore.

    The PDP governors are obviously convinced that the Tinubu administration is not doing nearly enough. Ever sly but barely magisterial in their outings, they have availed Nigerians a surfeit of proof: The naira – against the major international currencies – doing the yoyo spectacle. Food prices – not shortages please –reaching the skies and the neighbourhood, surfeit with an army of angry youths who simply can’t find anything meaningful to lay their hands on. And so they whined on and one like school children sent to undertake the day’s business without the accompaniment of their learning tools, forgetting that the problems being complained about are theirs and theirs to solve!

    And for these they want the president – not their membership club of predatory abdicators – to resign!

    Reminds yours sincerely of those days of yore when as a young staff writer in the National Concord, I alongside other colleagues went on tour of health establishments in Lagos with the late Minister of Health, Prof Olikoye Ransome-Kuti. At a stop in one federal medical facility, the officer in charge had ranted on and on about poor funding and how that was impacting on service delivery. He even dared to draw the minister’s attention to the long stretch of overgrown weeds threatening to turn the facility into a mini jungle only for the minister at this point to ask whether the facility had a labourer on its payroll! Of course, the director could only return an incomprehensible mumbo-jumbo about lack of critical equipment to rid the place of the weeds! In effect, the minister merely stopped short of saying that the problem is not so much about lack of funds but of the critical initiatives to get the job done.

    That same spirit – of corporate abdication – is unfortunately in full bloom with the governors eyes all set upon Abuja!

    Here of course is the irony: while the same governors trading blames have been smiling to the banks, sacrificing every single initiative of the Tinubu administration aimed at providing succour through their offices to sheer incompetence or political expediency; they forget, that the twin policies of fuel subsidy removal and foreign exchange reforms, which although painful for the citizens, has actually delivered far more positive outcomes to their treasuries and potentially for real governance than most of their whining lordships could ever have imagined.

    If there is any missing element, it must be their collective failure to articulate a programme of collaboration with the federal government to mitigate the pains on the citizens and to shorten the duration of the current adjustment. For that, the governors can rightly be accused of monumental abdication in a grave moment of emergency.

    However, unlike the governors who are in pole position to do something, the case of former vice president Atiku Abubakar is different. He understandably does not think much of the president let alone the policies of his administration, two positions of which he is eminently entitled. Atiku, interestingly, does not suffer a misapprehension of the issues at stake even if appears sometimes confused. Most certainly, he believes that he understands the problems more than anyone and perhaps that he alone possess the magic wand to solve them.

    Hear him: “The wrong policies of the Tinubu administration continue to cause untold pain and distress on the economy and the rest of us cannot keep quiet when the government has demonstrated sufficient poverty of ideas to redeem the situation.

    “After a careful assessment of the state of our economy at the twilights of the last administration, I knew full well that the economy of the country was heading for the ditch and came up with a number of policy prescriptions that would rescue the country from getting into the mess that we are currently in.” 

    And so his premises/options:

    (1) A fixed exchange rate system would be out of the question…it would not be in line with [our] philosophy of running an open, private sector-friendly economy.

     (2) Operating a successful fixed-exchange rate system would require sufficient FX reserves to defend the domestic currency at all times…He agrees that Nigeria’s major challenge is the persistent FX illiquidity occasioned by limited foreign exchange inflows to the country.

     (3) He says “A managed-floating system would have been a preferred option… in such a system, the naira may fluctuate daily, but the CBN will step in to control and stabilize its value. Such control will be exercised judiciously and responsibly, especially to curb speculative activities.”

    Imagine the individual who in one breadth pledged to reform the foreign exchange market by eliminating multiple exchange rate windows, which, he claimed, only benefited opportunists, middlemen, and fraudsters, bent on retaining the very infrastructure which gave it prop.

    That is vintage Abubakar, the acclaimed author and finisher of the Obasanjo-era reforms that have berthed in the current disaster that the country is only now, beginning to slowly but painfully extricate itself.

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    Surely, Atiku can go on theorising as many times as he wants. Just like his co-traveller, the acclaimed trader and fabulist that swears that he alone has the magic wand to move Nigeria from consumption to production, he is free to speak from both sides of the mouth. Clearly, the man Nigerians elected to solve the problem is Bola Tinubu.  While things might seem rough at the moment, the way forward surely cannot be a return to the old economy of rent and privilege but one in which level playing ground is availed to all classes of players. The two albatrosses of subsidy of fuel and multiple exchange rates belong to the ancien regime. We need to educate the throng still nursing the illusion of quick-fixes that the answer to the plummeting value of the naira is to encourage exports to boost the supply of forex.

    As for the governors, do they need Tinubu to tell them of the dire need to revive those farm settlements, the agricultural extension services of old, the site-and-service initiatives that took the drudge off the farming enterprise as a strategy only to rekindle the interests of our youths in agriculture? Come to think of it – is the job all about ‘forming’ the big man through the elite Nigerian Governors Forum?

  • FX volatility: Atiku got it wrong again, says Presidency

    FX volatility: Atiku got it wrong again, says Presidency

    The Presidency and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar yesterday clashed over the economic policies of the Tinubu administration.

    The Presidency faulted Atiku’s criticism of President Bola Tinubu’s handling of the foreign exchange crisis, accusing him of spreading lies about his policies without offering alternative approaches.

    Atiku had chided the President, claiming that he hurriedly initiated his foreign exchange management policy without proper plans and consultation.

    The former vice president and 2023 presidential candidate said the president has failed to showcase any concrete policy steps to contain the crises of currency fluctuation and poverty facing the country.

    In a tweet  , Atiku said the wrong policies of the Tinubu administration have continued to cause untold pain and distress, adding that his administration has demonstrated a poverty of ideas.

    Atiku said: “Tinubu’s new policy FX management policy was hurriedly put together without proper plans and consultations with stakeholders. The government failed to anticipate or downplayed the potential and real negative consequences of its actions

     “The government did not allow the CBN the independence to design and implement a sound FX Management Policy that would have dealt with such issues as increasing liquidity, curtailing/regulating demand, dealing with FX backlogs and rate convergence.

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     “I firmly believe that if and when the Government is ready to open itself to sound counsels, as well as control internal bleedings occasioned by corruption and poorly negotiated foreign loans, the Nigerian economy would begin to find a footing again.”

    However, in a statement  by Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the Presidency said the claims by the former Vice President on the administration’s management of the foreign exchange market, were lies, which underscored his lack of understanding of the efforts being made and successes being recorded.

    The Presidency said contrary to Atiku’s claims, indices on performances of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), under Mr Yemi Cardoso’s watch, have shown that capital in-flows have continued to appreciate in the last quarter of 2023, in serious contrast to what was obtainable in the third quarter of the same year.

    It said: “If he would be true to himself and what actually transpired at the meeting, unlike the lies he spewed, we expected Alhaji Atiku to praise President Tinubu for maintaining this stance and for not interfering with the business of Central Bank.

    “It is false and preposterous for Atiku to claim that CBN’s FX management policy was hurriedly put together without proper plans and consultations with stakeholders and that the apex bank is hamstrung by Tinubu’s government in implementing a sound FX Management Policy ‘that would have dealt with such issues as increasing liquidity, curtailing/regulating demand, dealing with FX backlogs and rate convergence’.

    “Contrary to former VP Atiku’s claim, Cardoso’s CBN is implementing a raft of policies to stabilise the Naira and end volatility in the market and this is already yielding some positive results.

    “Capital importation into the country is increasing, according to the latest NBS report. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Nigeria recorded a 66.27 percent increase in capital inflow, compared with Q3, before Cardoso’s arrival at CBN. In Q3, capital inflow was $654.65 million. It rose to $1.09 billion in Q4.

    “Alhaji Atiku will agree that the rise in capital inflow suggests massive investors’ confidence in Nigeria and the policy direction of the Tinubu administration.

    “Juxtaposed with the policy options being implemented by the CBN, Atiku’s alternative of a controlled floatation of the Naira is similar to the policy of Godwin Emefiele, when an estimated $1.5 billion was spent monthly to shore up the Naira, while arbitrage or round tripping went on unhindered. Sadly, it was perpetrated by people close to the corridors of powers.”

    According to the Presidency, claims by the former Vice President on discussions at last week’s meeting between President Tinubu and governors were misleading.

    It said: “Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, in an attempt to rubbish the foreign exchange policy of the Tinubu administration got his facts muddled up again. He also failed to prescribe a better policy option to what Governor Olayemi Cardoso and his team are executing at the apex bank.

    “First of all, it was not true that President Tinubu’s meeting last Thursday with the 36 State Governors was centred on discussing foreign exchange crisis and currency fluctuation.

    “What was discussed in the main was food supply and how to drastically reduce the food prices. The Minister of Information, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, gave a briefing about the meeting, revealing the highlights to State House Correspondents.

    “One was that the meeting established a nexus between the state of security and the rising cost of food. Another was that hoarders are warehousing food, creating artificial scarcity and thus enabling the high cost of food items.

    “The decisions at the meeting reflected the main points discussed: Forest rangers are to be strengthened and armed, while police are to recruit more men and the National Economic Council to deepen discussions about creating state police.”

    The statement added: “President Tinubu also affirmed his approval for the release of 42,000 Metric tonnes of grains from the national reserve. Government is also in discussion with rice millers to get another 60,000 metric tonnes. President Tinubu said he does not support price control and importation of food. Nigeria, he believes, can grow enough food to feed its citizens and spare some for export. “

    “The present government is executing the cultivation of 500,000 hectares for wheat, maize, and rice, in many states. Governors are expected to participate in this programme, one of the reasons for last Thursday’s meeting.

    “There was no deliberation as former VP Atiku claimed on currency fluctuation. As Alhaji Atiku should know, this is the business of the Central Bank, which has the autonomy to handle the country’s monetary policies. As a matter of fact, the President enjoined the governors, in passing, to allow the CBN do its work and refrain from dabbling into what is within CBN’s purview.”

  • FX volatility: Atiku got it wrong again – Presidency

    FX volatility: Atiku got it wrong again – Presidency

    The presidency on Sunday, February 18, faulted former vice president Atiku Abubakar’s criticism of President Bola Tinubu’s handling of the current foreign exchange crisis, accusing him of spreading lies about government’s policies without offering alternative approaches. 

    The presidency was reacting to Abubakar’s latest attack on the Bola Tinubu administration, in which he claimed that President Tinubu had hurriedly put his foreign exchange management policy together without proper plans and consultation. 

    However, in a statement issued by Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the Presidency said the claims by the former Vice President in his latest comment, on the administration’s management of the foreign exchange market, were lies, which failed to understand the efforts being made and successes being recorded. 

    According to the statement, the Presidency said contrary to Abubakar’s claims, indices from recent performances of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), under Mr Yemi Cardoso’s watch, have shown that capital in-flows have continued to appreciate in the last quarter of 2023, in serious contrast from what was obtainable in the Quarter 3 of the same year. 

    “If he would be true to himself and what actually transpired at the meeting, unlike the lies he spewed, we expected Alhaji Atiku to praise President Tinubu for maintaining this stance and for not interfering with the business of Central Bank.

    “It is false and preposterous for Atiku to claim that CBN’s FX management policy was hurriedly put together without proper plans and consultations with stakeholders and that the apex bank is hamstrung by Tinubu’s government in implementing a sound FX Management Policy ‘that would have dealt with such issues as increasing liquidity, curtailing/regulating demand, dealing with FX backlogs and rate convergence’.

    “Contrary to former VP Atiku’s claim, Cardoso’s CBN is implementing a raft of policies to stabilise the Naira and end volatility in the market and this is already yielding some positive results. 

    “Capital importation into the country is increasing, according to the latest NBS report. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Nigeria recorded a 66.27 percent increase in capital inflow, compared with Q3, before Cardoso’s arrival at CBN. In Q3, capital inflow was $654.65 million. It rose to $1.09 billion in Q4. 

    “Alhaji Atiku will agree that the rise in capital inflow suggests massive investors’ confidence in Nigeria and the policy direction of the Tinubu administration.

    “Juxtaposed with the policy options being implemented by the CBN, Atiku’s alternative of a controlled floatation of the Naira is similar to the policy of Godwin Emefiele, when an estimated $1.5 billion was spent monthly to shore up the Naira, while arbitrage or round tripping went on unhindered. Sadly, it was perpetrated by people close to the corridors of powers”, the statement said.

    The statement further explained that claims by the former Vice President on discussions at last week’s meeting between President Tinubu and the state governors were misleading, taking space to narrate a summary of discussions and agreements reached at the meeting. 

    “Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, in an attempt to rubbish the foreign exchange policy of the Tinubu administration got his facts muddled up again. He also failed to prescribe a better policy option to what Governor Olayemi Cardoso and his team are executing at the apex bank.

    “First of all, it was not true that President Tinubu’s meeting last Thursday with the 36 State Governors was centred on discussing foreign exchange crisis and currency fluctuation.

    “What was discussed in the main was food supply and how to drastically reduce the food prices. The Minister of Information, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, gave a briefing about the meeting, revealing the highlights to State House Correspondents. 

    “One was that the meeting established a nexus between the state of security and the rising cost of food. Another was that hoarders are warehousing food, creating artificial scarcity and thus enabling the high cost of food items.

    “The decisions at the meeting reflected the main points discussed: Forest rangers are to be strengthened and armed, while police are to recruit more men and the National Economic Council to deepen discussions about creating state police.

    “President Tinubu also affirmed his approval for the release of 42,000 Metric tonnes of grains from the national reserve. Government is also in discussion with rice millers to get another 60,000 metric tonnes. President Tinubu said he does not support price control and importation of food. Nigeria, he believes, can grow enough food to feed its citizens and spare some for export. 

    “The present government is executing the cultivation of 500,000 hectares for wheat, maize, and rice, in many states. Governors are expected to participate in this programme, one of the reasons for last Thursday’s meeting.

    “There was no deliberation as former VP Atiku claimed on currency fluctuation. As Alhaji Atiku should know, this is the business of the Central Bank, which has the autonomy to handle the country’s monetary policies. As a matter of fact, the President enjoined the governors, in passing, to allow the CBN do its work and refrain from dabbling into what is within CBN’s purview”, the statement said.

  • Presidency knocks Atiku over criticism of govt’s economic policies

    Presidency knocks Atiku over criticism of govt’s economic policies

    The Presidency yesterday fired a salvo at former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for his latest criticism on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic policies.

    In a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, the Presidency describes Atiku as an hypocrite who has resolved to attacking government’s economic strategies without providing any alternatives.

    Onanuga was reacting to Atiku’s tweet, in which he criticized the Tinubu administration’s handling of the economy.

    In the tweet posted on his verified X handle, @atiku, the ex-VP described the administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda as “dashing hopes, creating pains and causing despair.”

    But Onanuga lashed out at the former vice president, saying he has been offering pedestrian and uninformed interventions on national economy

    The statement reads: “The Tinubu administration has so far taken the steps it has taken to revive an economy that had been thoroughly beaten down by several decades of abuse and mismanagement, introducing economic strategies focused on bringing mid and long term solutions.

    “President Tinubu himself had from the onset told Nigerians that the policies will bring initial tough times, which will in the long run bring about desired prosperity and ease.

    “Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has certainly found a new hobby to keep himself busy, having failed to achieve his lifelong ambition of becoming the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He is increasingly carving for himself the role of opposition-in-chief to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his government.

    “However, we notice that the former Vice-President, just like in his political contests, is also doing a poor job of it,  offering pedestrian and uninformed interventions on our economy and other matters of public concerns.

    “Atiku’s latest diatribe was another uncharitable commentary on the state of the economy and the efforts of the President Bola Tinubu administration in remoulding it for sustained prosperity.

    “Nigerians can easily see through the hypocrisy of Alhaji Atiku, who in accusing President Tinubu of poor response to the nation’s challenges and causing pains and despair, didn’t 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.

    “President Tinubu acknowledged, on different occasions, that the reforms his government is implementing will cause immediate pains, but will usher in an era of prosperity in the medium and long terms.”

    According to the statement, unlike the former Vice President, reputable individuals and organisations, within and from far parts of the world, who had taken accurate studies of the Tinubu administration’s economic policies have rated them as realistic and sustainable.

    “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 country 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.

    The Presidency also pointed out that the economy inherited by the Tinubu administration was one that had been ill for decades and desperately in need of sincere intervention and restructuring.

    “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.

    “The economy was plagued by decades of significant fiscal deficits, a low revenue base, high external and domestic debts, and huge debt service burden.”

    “The national budget Tinubu met in 2023 showed that 97 percent of revenue was to be spent on debt servicing, with little reserved for capital, thereby foreclosing growth and jobs.

    “Confronted with this grim economic reality, President Tinubu faced a difficult choice of balancing the political and economic costs of reforms against the risks of economic recession. His government chose the former, to keep the economy afloat and set it back on the path of growth and prosperity”, the statement said.

    It went on to point out the Tinubu administration so far taken steps to reposition the economy, steps that have been hailed globally as right for reviving and ailing economy.

    “President Tinubu is focused on solving our economic and security challenges. The fiscal and monetary policies his administration is pursuing are delivering unprecedented value to investors on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Nigerian Stock Exchange is outperforming others in the world and is now the best, not based on bubble, but record profits by many listed companies.

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    “The administration has also embarked on comprehensive fiscal and tax policy reform that will drive speedy recovery and spur economic growth.

    “Nigerians and the global investment communities trust the ability and competence of President Tinubu to deliver progress and shared prosperity.

    “While President Tinubu and his able team are working very hard to make our country better, ensure our economy is stronger and more competitive, Atiku Abubakar and his cohorts may continue to belly ache.

    “However, they cannot stop the serious work of nation-building already set in motion by President Tinubu.”

    Atiku faults Tinubu’s economic policies

    AFTER his appraisal of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu handling of the economy, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar yesterday rated the administration below average.

    According to him, the performance of the economy has become an intense discourse among Nigerian, describing the challenges as worrisome.

    He spoke in statement posted yesterday on his verified X handle, @atiku.

    It reads: “Nigerians are gravely concerned, and rightly so, that Tinubu’s poor response to Nigeria’s economic challenges is setting the stage for a prolonged and deeper domestic economic crisis.”

    The one-time vice president condemned the economic policies and ineffective pills, alleging that the environment was fast becoming inclement for businesses to thrive.

    He said: “The private sector is shrinking by the day as small businesses are emasculated and as Multi-National 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.”

    The former vice president also hinted on the soaring prices of basic commodities, faulting the fundamentals in the federal government Appropriation Act for this year.

    He noted: “Budget 2024 will not facilitate growth and cannot empower our citizens to earn a living and live a decent life.”

    Atiku said the government has not done enough 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.

    The former vice president asked the economic team to quit to save the situation.

  • Edo, Ondo polls signpost troubling future

    Edo, Ondo polls signpost troubling future

    Kogi State governor Usman Ododo has so far spoken and acted like someone undeserving of the office his predecessor and kinsman Yahaya Bello single-handedly gifted him. Everything about the new governor betrays his mindset: his wistful look, his unspeakable subservience to the former governor, his first set of appointments, his deferential statements. He will not be the first man to be imposed on a people, nor will he be the last. Those who claim to be his betters, such as ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, had done much worse in imposing misfits and ruining whole destinies. There is indeed hardly any former governor not susceptible to the itch to aggregate to himself the interest of the state’s electorate. In nearly all the impositions, Nigeria has been worse for it. Now, a different kind of farcical electoral shenanigan is playing out in the governorship polls of Edo and Ondo States, for obviously no lessons have been learnt. The field is crowded in Edo State, which will be the first to have a go at imposition in September, and for the November Ondo poll, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, probably the most remorseless of governors, given the way he handled the illness of his predecessor, has a head start in an uninspiring field of aspirants.

    Edo first, then. Governor Godwin Obaseki has no conception of loyalty or finesse. Nor does he care anything about ideology or fairness. He is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over which, in the Edo chapter, he has a tenuous hold as leader. He will first need to get his protégé elected in the primary poll slated for later this month, but will almost certainly head into the September poll with a fairly divided house, an unruly field of political and governorship hopefuls, and a hardly disguised preference for Asue Ighodalo, a corporate lawyer and investment banker. But then there is also Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama from the Dan Orbih/Nyesom Wike PDP faction, and the cantankerous and sometimes disagreeable deputy governor, Philip Shaibu, who is determined to be a pain in the neck of Mr Obaseki. The governor won his second term exemplifying the state’s suspicion of the godfather phenomenon, an electoral tool deployed with devastating impact against ex-governor Adams Oshiomhole who denounced his leadership and backed Osagie Ize-Iyamu, a pastor. The governorship primaries in the PDP and APC are therefore expected to be keenly contested, but the victors are unlikely to underscore the beauty and independence of democratic practice in Nigeria.

    The dynamics of the Ondo governorship APC primary is unusually different. With a less congested field, which appears more worrisome than Edo’s in terms of leadership capacity, the state may head for an anticlimax. Sen Jimoh Ibrahim is a powerful and wealthy aspirant, but he will have to move mountains to best the incumbent. In his reactions to the late governor Rotimi Akeredolu’s health crisis and eventual death last December, Mr Aiyedatiwa hardly put one foot right. He needed to be patient, circumspect, calculating, and even dissembling if the situation demanded. Instead, he spoke brusquely, displayed abrasive and grating manners, and came across as unfeeling and dismissive. Since assuming the governorship, his tactlessness has left many people squirming and bewildered. But, for a governor, patronage is a powerful tool, and the Ondo governor has won many officials and ordinary people to his side. It is nevertheless too early to determine whether he would win, for his opponents will match him in every department of the game. But incumbency, regardless of how long a governor has been in office, can be stifling and unnerving to any opponent.

    Edo and Ondo, however, reinforce and exemplify Nigeria’s deeply flawed succession politics that keeps churning out misfits as local government, state, and federal administrators. The administrators may have flattering academic qualifications, but leadership is far more than academics, far more than loyalty, and far more than looks, eloquence and to some extent even charisma. Decades of focusing on wrong leadership yardsticks have worsened Nigeria’s existential challenges. There will always be global economic pressures triggering or exacerbating domestic economic crisis. And there will always be internal conflicts sometimes consequent upon warped constitutional arrangements and safeguards incapable of mediating ethnic, religious or regional suspicions and pressures. No part of the world is immune to such disharmonies and pressures. What makes the difference is the capacity of their leaders and perhaps too their imagination and boldness. There is nothing in the coming elections in Edo and Ondo that encourages the belief that prospective governors will be judged using the right yardsticks. In Ondo, a flawed Mr Aiyedatiwa schemes his relevance by positioning himself, against all scruples, and even before his benefactor is buried, to take advantage of the state’s desperate situation. And in Edo, the controversial and overhyped Mr Obaseki, who spoke glibly about democracy and denounced godfather politics when he campaigned for a second term, is now desperate to reproduce his kind, with scant attention paid to democratic practices. He believes his preferred candidate’s impressive CV should clinch the argument.

    The succession battle raging in Rivers State between Mr Fubara and ex-governor Wike should serve as signal lesson to political leaders eager to impose successors. Nothing is ever guaranteed. Most states where succession was midwifed by meddlesome political leaders have ended in a cul de sac. But no one takes history lessons to heart, and as Ondo may yet prove, perhaps even those who will vote at the party primary as well as at the governorship election seem absolutely incapable of learning anything. The choices facing Edo may be less complicated than Ondo’s; but simple or complicated, the chances of producing first-rate leaders, when the outgoing leader is himself third-rate, is one in a million.

    Atiku, Makinde and Ibadan blast

    A farcical drama played out in Ibadan last week when Governor Seyi Makinde, still smarting from the January 16 explosion in Ibadan, openly jousted with former vice president Atiku Abubakar over the latter’s lack of empathy for the people of Oyo state. Labour Party’s Peter Obi, a former presidential candidate, had visited the state to condole with Mr Makinde and Oyo people over the loss of lives and destruction of properties. The PDP’s former presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku, said the governor plaintively, had not deemed it fit to visit and commiserate.

    The former vice president’s media aide, Paul Ibe, however, refuted the governor’s claims. Mr Makinde, a notable member of the famous G-5 was too busy minding other things, he said, to read the letter of sympathy published in the media and issued less than 24 hours after the blast. How the spokesman missed the inanity of his response is hard to say. Of course Alhaji Atiku’s statement was published in the media, but for a former vice president conversant with bureaucracy and officialdom, it is passing strange that he considered such impersonal methods adequate, let alone one a spokesman would openly boast about. Does vindictiveness not have a limit for Alhaji Atiku?  

  • Allow younger people to run in 2027, Bode George tells Atiku

    Allow younger people to run in 2027, Bode George tells Atiku

    Chief Olabode George, a former deputy national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has pleaded with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to drop his bid for the presidency in 2027 so that younger Nigerians can contest.

    George said this in an interview on Arise Television on Thursday, February 1.

    George said that Atiku would be 81 years old in 2027, adding that he would be too old to govern the country.

    According to the PDP chieftain, Atiku ought to act as a mentor to the younger members of the party rather than consider running for office himself in 2027.

    George said: “My brother Atiku Abubakar was 77 years old last year, and by 2027 he will be 81 years old. Atiku should give room for younger Nigerians, who still have the energy and the brain to develop the country.

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    “Atiku should be in a situation where he plays like the big uncle in the room or the elder in the room.

    “What would anybody carry me now to do because I’m heading to 80 years old and I want to go and be a minister? To do what?

    “Let’s mentor the younger generation, and let’s be consistent with our strong belief in our party norms.

    “No other party is as entrenched and national in all concepts as the PDP. In 2027, I can’t tell anybody not to contest, but our party must be definitive that the presidency must remain in the South since the North has finished its eight years.”