‘Cheap talk’ – Presidency dismisses Atiku’s alternate economic plan

‘Cheap talk’ – Presidency dismisses Atiku’s alternate economic plan

“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”

The Presidency has dismissed former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s alternative economic plans in a statement released last night.

Atiku shared his views on his official X account. However, the Presidency referred to his suggestions as “cheap talk” and suggested they were expected from a candidate who lost an election.

They emphasized that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is on the right path with his bold economic reforms and is working to address the side effects of these policies on Nigerians.

Additionally, the All Progressives Congress (APC) stated that Atiku’s position, as the defeated 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was “a long piece absolutely saying nothing.”

In his statement, titled “What We Would Have Done Differently,” Atiku claimed that many people had been asking him what he would have done differently if he were the president at this time. He criticized the Tinubu administration’s approach to several issues, including the removal of the petrol subsidy, the floating of the naira, the management of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), and the operations of the country’s refineries.

He said among others that: “We would have planned better and more robustly

“We would have been more strategic in our response to reform fallout

“I would have led by example. I (and members of my team) would not have lived in luxury while the citizens wallow in misery.

“We would have communicated more effectively with the people, with civility, tact, and diplomacy

“I would not run a ‘palliative economy’ yet, we would have a robust social protection

“We would have launched an Economic Stimulus Fund (ESF)”

But Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga, in his “initial reaction,” said: “First, Alhaji Atiku’s ideas, which lacked details, were rejected by Nigerians in the 2023 poll.

“If he had won the election, we believe he would have plunged Nigeria into a worse situation or run a regime of cronyism.

“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.

“As vice president, Atiku supervised a questionable privatisation programme. 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.

“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.

“Despite the futile attempt to hoodwink Nigerians again in his statement, it is gratifying that the former Vice President could not repudiate the economic reforms pursued by the Tinubu administration because they are the right things to do.

“His advocacy for a gradualist approach only showed that he was not in tune with the enormity of problems inherited by President Tinubu.

“It is so easy to paint a flowery to-do list. It is expected of an election loser.

“President Tinubu met a country facing several grave challenges. Fuel subsidies were siphoning away enormous resources we could ill afford, and there was criminal arbitrage in the forex market.

“No leader worth his name will allow these two economic disorders to persist without moving to end them surgically.

“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.

“Alhaji Abubakar calls for empathy and a human face to reforms. We have no problem with this as it resonates well with our administration’s focus. President Tinubu has consistently emphasised the need for compassion and protection of the most vulnerable.

“The administration has prioritised social safety nets and targeted support for those affected by recent economic transitions.”

What I would have done differently

Atiku, in a lengthy post on his X handle, said he would have repositioned the NNPCL and ensured that the nation’s refining infrastructure, especially the nation’s refineries, were revived.

He added that he would have adopted a phased implementation of petro subsidy removal,  introduced a robust social welfare programme to make life meaningful for the vulnerable and drastically reduced the cost of governance.

The post partly reads: “I’ve been inundated with inquiries of what I would have done differently if I were at the helm of affairs of our country… I hope Tinubu and members of his administration are humble enough to borrow one or two things from our ideas in the interest of the Nigerian people; I would now go ahead and articulate some of our ideas that would have had the potential to transform our beloved country.”… To read the statement in full, click on Atiku’s >>> “What I would have done differently” More