NIGERIANS ENJOY LOWEST COST OF LIVING IN AFRICA - PRESIDENCY

 

Amid the soaring rate of inflation, the Presidency on Sunday February 4,claimed that Nigerians are enjoying the lowest living costs in Africa.

It also said the administration of President Bola Tinubu was focused on “solving our economic and security challenges,” and while admitting that his reforms would cause “immediate pains, but will usher in an era of prosperity in the medium and long terms.”

The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, made these assertions in a statement he signed titled ‘Atiku Abubakar and his new hobby.’

Onanuga’s response followed accusations from the Peoples Democratic Party 2023 presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, who said Tinubu’s economic policies were dashing hopes, creating pain, and causing despair among Nigerians.

The Presidency faulted Atiku’s assertions about the rising cost of living saying, “His claim that the government’s policies have created intense cost of living pressures are also not grounded on facts as recent comparative cost of living indices show that Nigerians still enjoy the lowest cost of living in Africa.”

 “Atiku’s claims that the private sector is shrinking and that multinational companies are leaving our companies in ‘droves’ are not grounded on facts,” it added.

Onanuga said the former Vice President “should be honest enough to admit that President Tinubu inherited a weak economy,” which, to all intents and purposes…needs a complete overhaul.

 “Nigerians can easily see through the hypocrisy of Alhaji Atiku, who in accusing President Tinubu of poor response to the nation’s challenges and causing pains and despair, didn’t offer any better policy options in his run for the Presidency different from the economic reform agenda being pursued by President Tinubu,” the statement further read.

It added that reputable local and international agencies who understand the situation the Tinubu administration found itself have commended the administration, having seen a policy trajectory that is clearly positive, realistic and sustainable.

The Presidency noted that the administration has also embarked on comprehensive fiscal and tax policy reform that will drive speedy recovery and spur economic growth and therefore its detractors “cannot stop the serious work of nation-building already set in motion by President Tinubu.”

Former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar GCON had on his verified social media handles said "The economy's performance has, in recent weeks and months, been a subject of intense discourse among Nigerian citizens at home and abroad.  Nigerians are gravely concerned, and rightly so, that Tinubu’s poor response to Nigeria’s economic challenges is setting the stage for a prolonged and deeper domestic economic crisis.

"His economic policies, drawn from a so-called renewed hope agenda, are ironically dashing hopes, creating pain and causing despair.  The private sector is shrinking by the day as small businesses are emasculated and as Multi-National Companies, confused and weary of the economy, leave Nigeria in droves.  The intense cost of living pressures has created more misery for the poor in towns and villages.  There is HUNGER IN THE LAND as basic commodities, including BREAD, are becoming out of reach for average Nigerians.  

"His 2024 budget is a business-as-usual exercise, bereft of concrete ideas and actions that would support Nigeria's journey toward economic transformation—consisting mainly of wasteful expenditures to cater to a bloated Federal Government. Budget 2024 will not facilitate growth and cannot empower our citizens to earn a living and live a decent life.  

"BAT has shown no capacity to deal with the adverse and disastrous impact of the new subsidy regime on the people and businesses and the new foreign exchange policy, which provides for a free-floating exchange rate. His initiatives are literally uninformed, arbitrary, and chaotic.  BAT’s palliatives are too mean, pitiable, and contemptuous of the poor. He seems genuinely lost, bewildered, and overwhelmed.

"To mask their failures, BAT and his political appointees are busy blaming his predecessor in office for bequeathing a ‘dead’ economy.  This is a familiar game popularised by former President Buhari while in office. It reinforces what we already know: that BAT came into office unprepared.

"Tinubu and his economic management team must swallow their pride, admit their missteps and failures, and follow those who know the terrain. They must act fast before the economy sinks deeper into the abyss.

The question is, will they?"