ABUJA — The Presidency has fired back at former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, dismissing his recent comments on Nigeria’s economic situation as misleading and disconnected from reality.
Reacting to Atiku’s claim that hunger is ravaging the country and his comparison of Nigeria’s present state to France before the 1789 Revolution or Russia before the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said the opposition leader’s remarks do not reflect the true picture.
Citing fresh data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Onanuga noted that inflation has dropped for the fifth consecutive month, while Nigeria has recorded a significant trade surplus, with non-oil exports now nearly matching oil exports.
He further revealed that the country’s foreign reserves have risen to nearly $42 billion—up from $32 billion when President Bola Tinubu assumed office. The administration, he added, has also cleared more than $7 billion in debts, including $800 million owed to international airlines.
“Under President Tinubu, Nigeria is recording unprecedented revenues. States are now able to pay salaries and gratuities promptly and still have surplus funds for capital and social projects — an achievement not previously witnessed at this scale,” Onanuga said in a statement posted on his X handle Monday.
He argued that the roots of Nigeria’s current challenges can be traced back to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) years when Atiku served as vice president, accusing the opposition of mismanagement. According to him, Tinubu’s government is addressing those mistakes through bold and corrective reforms.
Onanuga insisted that, two years and five months into Tinubu’s presidency, the results of his leadership are already visible nationwide — even if Atiku and his allies refuse to acknowledge the progress.
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