Utweets
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, has dismissed recent economic suggestions from former Vice President and PDP 2023 presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, as unrealistic and overly simplistic. ...READ THE FULL STORY FROM SOURCE ↔️
Abubakar’s statement critiqued Tinubu’s handling of foreign exchange reforms and subsidy removal, proposing alternative approaches he claimed would be more effective.
Onanuga responded sharply, stating, “We have just read a statement credited to former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in which he tried to discredit President Bola Tinubu’s economic reform programmes while pushing his untested agenda as a better alternative.”
The presidency underscored that Abubakar’s proposals lacked depth, pointing out that voters had rejected these ideas in the recent election.
“If he had won the election, we believe he would have plunged Nigeria into a worse situation or run a regime of cronyism,” said Onanuga, adding that Abubakar’s history, particularly during his tenure as vice president from 1999 to 2003, did not inspire confidence.
Onanuga cited Abubakar’s role in past “questionable privatisation programmes” and his establishment of a private university while public education suffered, calling Abubakar’s policies short-sighted.
“Talk is cheap,” he remarked. “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.”
Onanuga highlighted Tinubu’s decisive moves to dismantle fuel subsidies and address forex market imbalances, noting that these longstanding issues demanded bold action, not gradualism.
“No leader worth his name will allow these two economic disorders to persist without moving to end them surgically,” Onanuga argued, stating that Tinubu had inherited “grave challenges” that required immediate intervention.
The presidency affirmed its commitment to supporting vulnerable Nigerians affected by economic transitions, assuring that Tinubu’s policies prioritize “compassion and protection” through social safety nets. …READ THE FULL STORY FROM SOURCE ↔️
