Tag: Reno Omokri

Despite the gloomy pictures painted by some economic analysts and opposition politicians, a former presidential aide, Mr Reno Omokri, has said that the Nigerian economy is making headway under President Bola Tinubu.

He said recent economic indicators, including GDP growth rate, trade balances, and stock market performance, showed that the country’s economy was improving, expressing confidence that there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Speaking against the backdrop of a general complaint about the rising cost of living, primarily caused by spiking petrol prices, Omokri admitted that times were tough but explained that measures taken by the Tinubu administration were bearing fruit.

A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart Dele Momodu, said that the persistent rise in living costs does not give hope that there will be light at the end of the tunnel.

However, Omokri said the economic performance indicators showed the opposite. “The GDP grew by 3.19% in Q2 of 2024. Nigeria is now exporting more than she is importing. Nigeria made a trade surplus of N6,527 billion in Q1. By the second quarter of 2024, Nigeria’s trade surplus increased 6.5% to N6,945 billion from N6,527 billion.”

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He said that by Half Year 2024, Nigeria had exported enough goods and services to cover half its 2024 budget costs of N28.77 trillion, explaining that this had not happened in a long while.

He said, “The Nigerian Stock Exchange has broken four records in the last sixteen months. On Wednesday, November 1, 2023, Bloomberg reported that the NGX hit its highest level ever since its creation when it rose 1.9% daily to hit 70,581.76 All Shares Index.

“By January 10, 2024, the Nigerian Stock Exchange gained N1.6 trillion in a single day and achieved an All-Shares Index of 83,191.84, another record.

“Again, on Wednesday, January 24, 2024, just two weeks later, our stock exchange crossed the 100,000-basis point mark, setting a new all-time high record and overtaking Argentina as the world’s most profitable stock market.

“On Thursday, March 28, 2024, the NGX peaked at 104,562.06, representing a 39.84% increase year-to-date, making it the second-best performing exchange in Africa.”

He said further evidence of the forward movement of the economy was the local production of petrol by Dangote Refinery, which meant that Nigeria had required and the capacity for backward integration in oil refining.

Omokri said, “With the coming onstream of the Dangote Refinery, Nigeria is now a net exporter of finished petroleum products. Last week, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited notified the Nigerian Upstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) that it had stopped placing orders for fuel imports because the nation is now self-sufficient in the product.”

He praised the Tinubu administration for rebuilding the foreign reserves, which stands at $39.07 billion, stating that it was possible because the president stopped borrowing money to fund conspicuous consumption.

Omokri said, “The President has removed the feeding bottle of borrowing, which we had hitherto used to avoid living within our means. By making it impossible for us to sustain our fake lifestyle of taking foreign loans to subsidise the Naira and pay fuel subsidy, as well as artificially reduce the price of electricity, the President has forced Nigerians to come to terms with reality and live within our means.”

A former presidential aide, Mr Reno Omokri, has said it is erroneous to blame President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for business decisions made by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

He said despite the Federal Government’s ownership of the national oil company, its board of directors was responsible for its management and must be held accountable for all its decisions made in accordance with its obligation to run the business profitably.

“It betrays a lack of understanding of corporate governance and ignorance of how government operates when politicians and activists attack the President over the NNPCL’s statements and actions,” Omokri, who served former President Goodluck Jonathan as special assistant on New Media, said in a statement yesterday.

President Tinubu has come under attack over the recent petrol price hikes by the NNPCL from N580/N617 to N850/N893 per litre, which triggered angry reactions from a cross-section of the public.  

Many social commentators and policy analysts held the president responsible for the hike because they believed that the national oil company, wholly owned by the federal government, could not tinker with its products’ prices without the president’s assent.

However, Omokri thinks differently, contending that the company that decided for its business survival must be held accountable.

Read Also: NNPCL, Chevron JV eye 165,000b/d from assets

“The NNPCL, though state-owned, is a limited liability company that is not subject to the Appropriation Act or the Fiscal Responsibility Act in the way ministries, departments, and agencies are,” he said.

He explained that while ministries, departments, and agencies were governmental organisations, the NNPCL was more accurately a quasi-governmental agency with self-financing and accounting like a limited liability entity.

Comparing NNPCL with the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Limited, he said, “Both NLNG Ltd and the NNPCL are answerable to their boards. They can spend money outside the budget because they are not a Ministry, Department, or Agency of the government. They are like any other company, such as MTN, First Bank, or Indorama.

“The only difference between these companies and the NNPCL is their ownership. Private individuals own them, and they are publicly traded. The Nigerian state owns the NNPCL.”

Omokri argued that the Federal Government had majority shares, which gave the President the power to appoint the board and the group managing director but did not rub the company of its independence to make business decisions that would make it profitable.

“To an extent, the NNPCL is like the CBN, which, though the President appoints the governor, is still independent of the President and the government,” he said, explaining, “Ownership and control of the NNPCL are separate.”

Noting that President Tinubu’s role as Minister of Petroleum Resources might have given the impression that he could interfere with the company’s management, he explained that this was erroneous because the ministry’s power extended to only policy formulation and regulation.

Former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, has lambasted Peter Obi for his decision to run in the 2023 presidential election.

Omokri, who was a supporter of Atiku Abubakar, accused Obi of prioritising personal ambition over the greater good of the country.

He compared Obi’s decision to Joe Biden’s recent choice not to run in the US presidential election and suggested that Obi should have followed suit.

Omokri expressed regret for his role in pairing Obi with Atiku as running mates in 2019 and offered a heartfelt apology to Atiku.

He also criticized Obi’s leadership record in Anambra State, citing environmental pollution, prolonged doctor strikes, and alleged hypocrisy.

Omokri also accused Obi of orchestrating online attacks against opponents through manipulated social media influencers.

He wrote on X: “Joe Biden has just done what Peter Obi ought to have done in 2023. Peter Obi had no chance in 2023 and has even less of a chance in 2027 after his misadventure where he lied that a subsisting court verdict ordered the release of Nnamdi Kanu and his leaked ‘Yes Daddy’ audio.

“Peter Obi’s only function in 2023 was as an ungrateful character, blinded by ambition, who chose to bite the hand that fed him, which led him to contest against Waziri Atiku Abubakar and, by so doing divided the opposition vote. If Obi had not contested the #NigerianElections2023, Atiku would have won.

“He should have summoned the courage and patriotism to his country, as well as loyalty to his party that President Biden has now shown.

“Sadly, I feel so personally responsible due to my role in making that ingrate Waziri Atiku’s running mate in 2019. May God forgive me. I sincerely and penitently apologize to Waziri Atiku Abubakar. I thought I knew the man.

“Peter Obi watched the APC defeat a united opposition. He saw this and then went ahead and still divided the opposition in 2023. If united, we could not beat them, how could we have managed it divided?

“Greedy, over-ambitious, desperate, slippery, and highly manipulative. Peter Obi, Arise TV, and Obi’s media team are directly in control of the influencers who insult, abuse, and threaten others for not supporting Peter Obi on social media. He tells them who to attack.

“Just imagine! A man who could not build even one nursery, primary, secondary, or university, a man under whom Onitsha became the dirtiest place on planet earth, with the worst pollution, according to the World Health Organisation, a man under whom hundreds of young men were being killed and their bodies dumped into the Ezu River. A man under whom doctors went on strike for thirteen months. Who bought 400 SUVs for Anambra Igwes, then hypocritically criticised the National Assembly for buying 400 cars for Legislators.

Read Also: Peter Obi’s claim: My critics should apologise to me now – Reno Omokri

“This is the same man who tried to pull the wool over the eyes of Nigerians, claiming he was a better choice than Waziri Atiku.”

In a bold challenge, Omokri dared Obi to match his 2023 vote tally in 2027, vowing to retire from politics if Obi succeeds.

“Contest in 2027. If you get up to the votes you got in 2023, I vow to retire from politics permanently”, he added.

A former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, has claimed that the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kankwaso and the former Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state would not agree to contest the 2027 presidency with Peter Obi.

Omokri stated this in a statement via his X handle on Wednesday, May 15.

The Nation had reported that Obi met with Atiku, former Senate President Bukola Saraki, and Sule Lamido in Abuja on Tuesday.

However, Omokri said no northerner of standing and in his right senses would agree to run for the 2027 presidency with the former Anambra state governor.

Omokri wondered about the significance of Obi’s rapprochement with northern powerbrokers in the PDP, stressing that “right now he is tainted.”

He said: “Have you forgotten about Deborah Samuel? Of course not. The memory is still fresh in your mind, primarily because you are a Christian and you empathise with her, seeing as she was killed by a core Northern Muslim mob on charges of blasphemy.

Read Also: Peter Obi’s claim: My critics should apologise to me now – Reno Omokri

“Now, perform this emotional intelligence exercise. If you cannot and will not forget Deborah Samuel, how do you think any Muslim, Northern or Southern, is going to forget a man who was caught on tape plotting religious war against you? How?

“The North Remembers is not just an episode from the television series, Game of Thrones. It is an actual way of life of Northern Nigeria. They have the memory of an elephant.

“They read al-Quran, which warns them about such people, who are referred to as Munafiq. You know how sensitive religion is in Nigeria. And then you think the Muslim Ummah will forgive and forget Peter Obi’s words? Peter Obi will be 63 in six weeks. People don’t change when they are that old.

“Especially when Peter Obi has never owned up to the tape and apologised. Instead, when asked three times by Charles Aniagolu if that was him on the tape, Obi dodged the question.

“And then you combine his Yes Daddy tape with his jumping from one church to the other, shouting, ‘Church, take back your country,’ and you think Muslims are that naive as to forgive such a man?

“As for South-South votes, Obi will not get them in 2027 or be able to influence their direction. As long as Tinubu delivers the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, or at least comes very close to completion.

“Yes, people will agree to meet with him out of courtesy. Some will do so to explore if they can get him to give them his bloc vote. But no Northerner standing in his right mind will run with Obi. Not Waziri Atiku, Rabiu Kwankwaso, or Nasir-El-Rufai.

“For Arewa, you can touch the North and be forgiven. But you cannot touch Islam and be forgiven.”

Controversial social media influencer, Reno Omokri, has reacted to Peter Obi’s claim that he did not construct schools during his tenure as governor of Anambra but rather enhanced existing ones.

Reno shared his response on his verified X page on Wednesday, April 24, shortly after Obi’s statement.

He said: “Now that Peter Obi himself on video today admitted that he did not initiate, start, complete or commission any school during his eight years as Anambra governor because it was not in his manifesto, I hope all those who accused me of lying can now apologise and accept the truth.

Read Also: Don’t increase world’s population if you can’t improve your remuneration, Reno Omokri tells men

“Whereas he built a $50 million brewery, Obi did not construct any nursery, primary, secondary school, university, polytechnic, technical college, or vocational academy.

“Nigeria needs leaders whose focus is education and not intoxication. We need a Commander-in-Chief who wants the youth of Nigeria to concentrate on learning rather than drinking. “

Media personality Reno Omokri has offered counsel to men regarding the significance of attaining financial stability before seeking romantic relationships, emphasizing the importance of earning money through legal means.

In a statement on X, Reno stated that without financial resources, many women may overlook men. Reno further asserted that an adult male lacking financial means is already facing challenges, and if a woman chooses to marry him, they both may encounter difficulties.

Read Also: Name one school Peter Obi initiated as Anambra gov – Reno Omokri challenges ‘Obidients’

He advised that for them to avoid that problem chain reaction, a man should endeavour to make money legally before becoming a baby maker.

He said: “Sadly, if you have no money, many women will filter you out. An adult male without cash is already a problem to himself. If a woman marries him, they both become problems.

“If they have children while still broke, they create even more problems. So, to avoid a problem chain reaction, learn to make money legally.”

“You need to be a money-making machine before you start being a baby-making machine. Don’t increase the world’s population if you can’t first improve your remuneration. It is disruptive to breed without having bread to feed those you breed!”

Controversial social commentator, Reno Omokri has challenged supporters of former Anambra governor, Peter Obi (Obidents) to name one school the Labour Party 2023 Presidential candidate established during his time as governor.

Omokri made his assertions in an interview on the ‘Mic On Podcast’ programme hosted by a Channels Television’, Seun Okinbaloye, on Saturday.

He argued that “the chairman of Eti-Osa local government area in Lagos state has more achievements in governance than Peter Obi.”

“I know for a fact that the Eti-Osa local government chairman has built at least, to my knowledge, three schools,” Omokri affirmed.

Read Also: Naira’s fate is in our hands, Reno Omokri tells Nigerians

He also issued a challenge to supporters of Obi, urging them to identify a school constructed during Obi’s eight-year tenure as governor of the Southeastern state.

Omokri said: “I am giving a challenge. I will give any (Obidient) $10,000 if they can name one school that Peter Obi started, completed and commissioned while he was governor.” 

The Naira made a steady recovery against the dollar in April, with the Nigerian currency trading at N1,142.38 per dollar at the weekend.

This marks a notable improvement from its earlier peak of N1,800 per dollar earlier in the year.

Social commentator, Reno Omokri has called on Nigerians to do more to extend the appreciation of the currency.

In a post on his official X page on Monday, April 15, Omokri advised Nigerians to buy locally-made products to boost the value of the currency.

He wrote: “If you want the Dollar to fall below ₦1000 to $1, all you have to do is find a made-in-Nigeria alternative for those foreign goods and services you use regularly. Nigeria produces everything from A to Z.

“Akamu for breakfast instead of imported custard, Beans for lunch rather than foreign rice, Cornflakes from Nasco, not Kellogg’s, Dangote spaghetti, not Italian pasta, Eggs from Obasanjo farms not from abroad, Fan yoghurt, not imported yoghurt, Glo instead of foreign telcos, Honey from Ore, not from Shoprite, Nord, not Honda or Toyota, Juice from Chivita, not America, Kpomo in your soup, not foreign fish, Lace from Kaduba, not from Switzerland, Mango from Adamawa, over imported apples, Noodles from Dangote, not Indonesia, Oranges from Benue, rather than Israel, Purses from Kano, not France

Read Also: Weak men use ‘fear women’ phrase commonly – Reno Omokri

“Quail from Kebbi, not from England, Radio Nigeria, over Radio France Internationale, Shoes and slippers from Kano, not Italy and Spain, Tea from Mambilla Plateau, not China, Umbrella from Abakaliki, over those from India, Vans from PAN rather than Asia, Wine from palm wine, not from Palma, Spain

“X-rays at UCH Ibadan, not in Europe, Yams from Oyo, instead of imported potatoes, Zobo over imported flavoured drinks

“I have listed at least one product from A to Z that you can use over a foreign product. The fate of the Naira is in our hands that is why I ask you to join me as I wear my made-in-Nigeria Agbada and cap to #GrowNairaBuyNaija!”