The Presidency has replied former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar over his statement that that the hunger and poverty in the country were no longer acceptable.
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, said the present administration was proud of the progress made so far, insisting some of the problems they were trying to resolve was created during the years of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) when Atiku was Vice president.
Atiku, on Monday, lamented that over two years after taking the reins, there is no sign that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu can address the prevailing hunger and poverty in the country.
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The opposition leader who described the hunger in the country as unacceptable, especially the underprivileged poor and down-trodden said, “most violent socio-political eruptions and revolutions all over the world had often been powered by pervasive hunger and unbearable material conditions – especially the paradox of squalor amidst plenty in our land.”
But in a swift reaction, Onanuga said “talk is cheap”, adding that Atiku and his handlers were clearly out of touch with the positive developments currently unfolding in our country.
Onanuga said Atiku’s claim that hunger is ravaging Nigeria, and their “comparison of our situation to the unrest in France before the 1789 Revolution or the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, is grossly misleading.”
He said Atiku’s latest statement demonstrated a disconnect from the authentic Nigerian reality, “as recent data tells a different story. Just today, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released its figures for August, showing that headline inflation has declined for the fifth consecutive month. Over the weekend, the NBS also reported a record trade surplus, with the contribution of non-oil exports to our trade balance now nearly matching that of crude oil at a ratio of 48:52 per cent.
“Our foreign exchange reserves are on the rise, now approaching $42 billion. When President Tinubu assumed office, reserves stood at $32 billion, much of it encumbered. This administration has since cleared over $7 billion in arrears, including $800 million owed to airlines.”
Onanuga stressed that under President Tinubu, Nigeria is recording unprecedented revenues and 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.”
According to him, “Ironically, many of the challenges we face today stem from the economic mismanagement during the PDP years, when Atiku was Vice President. President Tinubu and his team are working relentlessly to correct those errors, with bold reforms.
“After just two years and five months in office, we are proud of the progress being made under President Tinubu’s leadership. Atiku and his allies may choose to ignore these gains, but Nigerians can see and feel the positive changes taking place across the nation.”