• Criticizes Atiku’s Proposed Alternative Policies

• Safiu Kehinde

Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has, again, slammed Former Nigerian Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, for accusing Tinubu of stealing his presidency.

Onanuga lashed out at the ex-vice president in a statement issued on Sunday in reaction to Atiku’s recent post.

NPO reported the Peoples Democratic Party’s 2023 Presidential candidate’s economic proposal on what he would have done better if he was President.

Atiku had in the proposal shared on his X handle called out Tinubu for stealing his presidency.

Reacting, Onanuga maintained that Tinubu rightfully won the presidency which he claimed Atiku was unqualified for owing to his alleged arrogance, insensitivity to Nigeria’s diversity, and disregard to his party’s power rotation arrangement.

While accusing the ex-vice president of being envious of Tinubu, Onanuga stressed that Atiku’s economic analysis demonstrates a significant misunderstanding of Nigeria’s realities.

“Since his defeat in the last election, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has shown more interest in undermining President Bola Ahmed Tinubu than in addressing his party’s implosion. We suspect he is envious of Tinubu’s position—an office he has unsuccessfully sought six times.

“Atiku’s economic analysis demonstrates a significant misunderstanding of Nigeria’s realities. His narrative, “What We Would Have Done Differently,” indicates an inability to engage with the pressing economic realities being revitalised multidimensionally under President Tinubu’s leadership.

“What reforms would Atiku propose at the onset of his hypothetical and fabled presidency? While he suggests a consultation period upon assuming office, the reality is that the Nigerian economy requires immediate and decisive action. A leader must be prepared to tackle challenges from Day One, as President Tinubu has done.

“Atiku, going further to accuse President Tinubu of “stealing his presidency,” exposed his sense of entitlement and his disconnect from the electorate.

“The truth is that Tinubu rightfully won the presidency, a position Atiku was simply unqualified for due to his arrogance, insensitivity to Nigeria’s diversity, and the decision to disregard his party’s power rotation arrangement between the North and the South after eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari.” Onanuga wrote.

On Atiku’s consultation plan, Onanuga held that Nigeria needed a proactive leader such as Tinubu, who immediately set to work on addressing economic challenges rather than one who would have squandered precious time on consultations and a questionable privatisation agenda.

He further labelled Atiku’s criticism of Tinubu’s presidency in relation to subsidy removal as devoid of realistic alternatives.

He said the PDP chieftain must reckon with the decades of mismanaged economy inherited by the current administration, including exorbitant subsidy expenditures far exceeding government earnings from crude oil.

“As of mid-2023, the landing cost of fuel was between N500 and N600, while it was sold nationwide at an average of N200.

“The 2023 budget allocated N3.36 trillion for fuel subsidies until June 2023 against a projected N2.23 trillion in oil revenue for the year. The Nigerian state was on life support.

“Instead of conjuring imaginary scenarios, we expect the former vice president to engage with these urgent realities.

“The estimated N5.4 trillion savings from subsidy removal in 2024 are being actively directed toward infrastructure development and social intervention programmes, initiatives that will benefit all tiers of government and enhance Nigerians’ quality of life.” Onanuga continued.

He further stressed that Atiku supposed to commend what the Tinubu administration has done concerning revenue generation for the Federation, especially through the revenue proceeds generated by the Federal Inland Revenue Service which almost doubled in the first half of 2024, compared with the level Tinubu met in 2023- a development that had availed many states the opportunity to increased the minimum wage for their workers to between N70,000 and N85,000.

On Atiku’s proposal to privatise the four government-owned refineries, Onanuga recalled how late former Nigerian President, Umar Musa Yar’Adua had trashed the initial plot by the Obasanjo and Atiku-led administration.

“In 2007, investors were only willing to offer $160 million for 51% equity in the Port Harcourt Refinery, while the Kaduna Refinery had an offer of $102 million. According to industry experts and the late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua, Nigeria’s Head of State at the time, who cancelled the sale of the refineries by the Obasanjo-Atiku government, the offered bids were considered scrap value.

“As vice president, Atiku oversaw the sale of the nation’s assets to private individuals and cronies at low prices.

“Today, most public enterprises Atiku sold have been stripped and become dead assets.

“The model of farming the completely rehabilitated refineries to private sector managers at an agreed-upon rate of return to the government, as adopted by Tinubu’s government, is more practical and value-laden than selling our national patrimony to some private interests that are not technically capable of operating the refineries.

“The Tinubu administration focuses on revitalising these refineries while supporting modular refineries and the Dangote Refinery, which has greater capacity.

“This approach will guarantee domestic production and stabilise retail prices by reducing foreign exchange challenges. It includes selling crude oil to the refineries in Naira, enabling potential cost reductions that could reflect in retail prices.” He wrote.

Regarding Atiku’s allegations of corruption within the NNPC, Onanuga expressed that the fuel subsidy has historically been the leading corruption enabler in the state-owned oil company with Tinubu’s removal of the subsidy eliminating the most significant incentive for corruption within the NNPC.

Onanuga would also talk down Atiku’s proposal on foreign exchange which called for a managed floating of the Naira.

“In his foreign exchange management proposal, Atiku declared that a fixed exchange rate system was out of the question. Yet his managed float proposal, another gradualist approach, is still the same as the old fixed exchange rate system, which stagnated the national economy by subsidising forex up to $1.5 billion monthly to a privileged few.

“Atiku should remember that a managed float is also known as a dirty float because of its inherent flaws. The system combines elements of fixed and floating exchange rates.

“The CBN will still have to set the exchange rate and make it available to people and businesses. Access is not guaranteed to all, as it is now.” Onanuga added.