Sanusi reiterates Buhari messed up economy and ‘people are [now] looking for what to eat’
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Former Kano Emir Lamido Sanusi has reiterated former President Muhammadu Buhari did a poor job in his eight years in Aso Rock and left behind a decimated economy for Bola Tinubu his successor, the reasons why citizens are groaning.
Sanusi bared his mind two days after former federal Attorney General and Justice Minister Adoke Oandoaka tore at Buhari for having run a corrupt administration populated by “morons”.
The former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor spoke at a virtual religious event from which he said deviated to remind Nigerians of his stand on Buhari’s badly managed economic policies.
Sanusi recounted Buhari and his cronies ignored sound advice on how to take Nigeria out of economic woes, explaining economists with a fair sense of reasoning know the new administration rightly removed fuel subsidy, to save the country from the pit of debt dug by Buhari.
His words: “I have, over the years, talked about the pending crisis, ahead of the current economic hardship. Any economist who has studied monetary policy in the last eight years knows that Nigerians will fall into this difficult situation.
“The difficult situation Nigerians are facing is just the beginning (if the right decision is not put in place) because Nigeria is not exceptional; such situations happened in Germany, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Venezuela.
“The previous administration turned adamant about our appeal for corrective measures (on economic policy).”
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Things won’t be easy, Sanusi warns
“I have said in the presence of the now sitting President in Kaduna State; any politician who tells you that things will be easy, don’t vote for him because he is lying. People merely dismissed my advisory as a political statement,” Sanusi added, per reporting by The Guardian.
“If I am to be fair and just to President Bola Tinubu, he is not to blame for the current hardship; for eight years, we were living on a fake lifestyle with huge debts from foreign and domestic debts.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria owes over N30 trillion, which resulted in debt service surpassing 100 per cent.
“I can’t join other Nigerians criticising Tinubu on the current economic hardship, and I am not saying he is a saint, free from wrongdoing, but in this current economic situation, President Tinubu is not to be blamed. I will also speak if I see any wrong economic policy of the Tinubu administration in the future.
“It’s injustice for anyone to blame the Tinubu administration for the current economic hardship because there is no other alternative than removal of the fuel subsidy. After all, Nigeria cannot even afford to pay the subsidy.
“I can only plead with the people to endure the hardship, and those who have the means to help the downtrodden should do so.
“I am also pleading with commoners to live according to their earnings; we must not peg our lives above our earnings in this difficult situation where people are looking for what to eat.”
Under Buhari, even a greenhorn bought a private jet round tripping dollars Sanusi laments
Vanguard reports Sanusi also lamented Nigeria led a false lifestyle under Buhari.
“They treated the economy the way they wanted and refused to listen to experts. In the last eight years, only sycophancy succeeded. The sycophants bought dollars at N400 and sold N540.
“An inexperienced boy who has no record of service has a private jet and owns houses in Dubai and England just because he is buying dollars at such a rate and selling them (at another).
“About N30 trillion was borrowed from the Central Bank of Nigeria. All the revenue the country generated in the last few years couldn’t service debt. Debt service exceeded 100 per cent.
“Government borrowed to service debts. No country can grow this way. Time will come when one cannot borrow any more. Additionally there will be nothing to pay debts.
“I will never say Tinubu has pushed Nigeria into difficulty. I am not saying he is flawless or flawed. We will speak when he goes astray. The government can’t pay subsidies since it doesn’t have the means.
“If they add tax, we have to pay since borrowing is impossible. If the CBN printed more naira, the dollar would jack up to N1,500. We must suffer. When I was the CBN Governor it was N150 [to the dollar]. Today it’s somewhere around N900.”