Atiku also said Tinubu failed to improve the lives of Nigerians after enduring years of economic misadventure under ex-President Buhari
By Kehinde Okeowo
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) 2023 presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar has described President Bola Tinubu’s one year in office as a “cocktail” of trial-and-error economic policies.
According to the former Vice President, Nigeria is yet to start working one year after the incumbent president ascended to power.
He made this known in a statement, where he recalled that Tinubu raised the hopes of Nigerians with his pledge to “remodel our economy to bring about growth and development through job creation, food security and an end of extreme poverty.”
He also said the president spoke about growing the economy at double-digit rates to US$1 trillion in six years, ending misery, and bringing immediate relief to Nigeria’s cost-of-living crisis.
He, however, noted that despite all the promises Tinubu has failed to improve the lives of Nigerians after enduring eight years of economic misadventure under ex-President Muhammadu Buhari.
ALSO READ: FG urges labour to reconsider offer after NLC, TUC rejected N60,000 as new minimum wage
Assessing the president after one year in office, Atiku said, “Tinubu laid out no plans for the ‘remodeling’ of the economy but soon embarked on a cocktail of policies to achieve it.
“In May 2023, he eliminated PMS subsidies, and a month later, the CBN implemented a new foreign exchange policy that unified the multiple official FX windows into a single official market.
“More policies followed in rapid succession: the tightening of monetary policy to reduce Naira liquidity, a hike in monetary policy rates, the introduction of cost-reflective electricity tariff, and a cybersecurity tax.
“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.
“Nigeria remains a struggling economy and is more fragile today than it was a year ago. Indeed, all the economic ills – joblessness, poverty, and misery – which defined the Buhari-led administration have only exacerbated.
“Africa’s leading economy has slipped to the 4th position lagging 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.”