Atiku to Tinubu: Economic hardship can’t be hidden by ‘creative accounting’
Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has dismissed the federal government’s defence of its economic policies, saying the Tinubu administration cannot “whitewash” the hardship facing Nigerians.
In a statement issued on Saturday by Phrank Shaibu, his senior special assistant on public communication, Atiku said recent comments by Taiwo Oyedele, minister of finance, on subsidy removal, public debt, workers’ welfare and debt servicing were inconsistent with publicly available data.
The former vice-president disputed the government’s claim that savings from the removal of petrol subsidy were being used to reduce inherited liabilities.
According to him, the federal government’s exposure to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has increased significantly under the current administration.
“As of May 2023, when President Tinubu assumed office, the Federal Government’s exposure to the Central Bank of Nigeria stood at approximately N26.9 trillion. Today, that exposure has ballooned to over N40.38 trillion,” he said.
Atiku argued that the government had merely restructured its debt by converting Ways and Means advances into treasury bills and bonds while accumulating fresh obligations.
He also rejected the claim that subsidy savings had translated into improved workers’ welfare, alleging that the federal government was yet to fully implement the new minimum wage and other promised allowances.
The ADC presidential candidate further questioned the government’s claim that subsidy savings were funding the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
He said the fund’s management had previously disclosed receiving N50 billion from recovered assets by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), asking why the government was now attributing the funding to subsidy savings.
Atiku also blamed the administration’s economic policies for rising debt servicing costs, arguing that higher interest rates had made borrowing more expensive for businesses while increasing the government’s debt burden.
He said Nigerians continued to grapple with high inflation, rising food prices, unemployment, business closures and the depreciation of the naira, adding that the administration’s performance should be judged by citizens’ living conditions rather than official presentations.
“Governments are judged not by PowerPoint presentations or television interviews but by the quality of life of their citizens,” he said.
