The Presidency has responded to recent remarks by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar criticizing President Bola Tinubu\u2019s economic reform policies, describing Atiku\u2019s proposed ideas as lacking credibility and out of touch with Nigeria\u2019s current economic reality.<\/p>\n
The response, issued by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Information and Strategy, defends the Tinubu administration\u2019s approach and critiques Atiku\u2019s past economic management.<\/span><\/p>\n In his statement titled \u201cOur Initial Response to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar,\u201d Onanuga dismissed Atiku\u2019s proposed economic solutions as unproven, noting that Nigerians had already rejected them at the polls in the 2023 presidential election. <\/span><\/p>\n He added that, had Atiku been elected, the country might have faced \u201ca worse situation or a regime of cronyism.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Onanuga pointed to Atiku\u2019s previous tenure as vice president under President Olusegun Obasanjo, alleging that Atiku\u2019s economic policies and approach to privatization were flawed. \u201cAs vice president, Atiku supervised a questionable privatization program,\u201d Onanuga stated, also accusing Atiku and Obasanjo of neglecting Nigeria\u2019s public education sector.<\/span><\/p>\n Onanuga argued that, while it may be easy to criticize, Tinubu\u2019s economic policies\u2014though challenging in the short term\u2014are already showing positive outcomes. <\/span><\/p>\n The adviser contended that Tinubu\u2019s decisive approach addresses long-standing issues such as fuel subsidies and forex market abuses that he said were \u201csiphoning away enormous resources\u201d and could no longer be ignored.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhile advocating for gradual reforms may sound appealing,\u201d Onanuga said, \u201cTinubu took measures that should have been taken decades ago by Alhaji Abubakar and his boss when they had the opportunity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Onanuga also dismissed Atiku\u2019s call for \u201ca human face\u201d to reforms as redundant, claiming that Tinubu\u2019s administration has already prioritized compassionate measures for Nigeria\u2019s most vulnerable. <\/span><\/p>\n He emphasized that the government is committed to social safety nets and targeted support for those affected by recent economic shifts.<\/span><\/p>\n This latest exchange between Atiku and the Presidency underscores the sharp divide over how best to address Nigeria\u2019s economic challenges, with both sides championing vastly different approaches.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Presidency has responded to recent remarks by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar criticizing President Bola Tinubu\u2019s economic reform policies, describing Atiku\u2019s proposed ideas as lacking credibility and out of touch with Nigeria\u2019s current economic reality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19213,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[125,8485,9035,9334,9333],"class_list":["post-20516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-atiku","tag-criticism","tag-economic-reforms","tag-onanuga","tag-tinubus-aide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20516"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20516"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20520,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20516\/revisions\/20520"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}