Atiku Abubakar, who ran for president with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) last time, said President Bola Tinubu doesn’t understand how to manage the economy well.
He criticized Tinubu for quickly changing the naira’s value, calling it a bad idea done poorly. Atiku thinks Tinubu’s actions are making life harder for millions of Nigerians.
Atiku suggests Tinubu should ask experts for help to avoid making things worse. In a statement, Atiku said Tinubu didn’t present any clear plans to solve problems like the currency crisis and poverty during a meeting. Instead, Tinubu asked for more time to figure things out, which Atiku thinks is not the right approach.
Atiku disagrees with Tinubu’s policies, saying they’re causing a lot of problems for the economy and people.
He believes the government needs new ideas to fix things. Atiku mentions he had some solutions during the previous administration, which he shared in a document called “My Covenant With Nigerians.”
One of Atiku’s suggestions was to change how the foreign exchange market works. He wanted to get rid of multiple exchange rates because they benefit only a few people and cause problems.
Atiku didn’t support fixing the exchange rate because Nigeria didn’t have enough money to support it.
He thought a gradual approach, where the Central Bank of Nigeria controls the exchange rate, would be better.
Atiku explained that Nigeria doesn’t earn enough money from selling oil, and it’s not attracting enough foreign investment.
This means Nigeria doesn’t have a lot of foreign currency reserves to support a free-floating exchange rate. So, Atiku thinks it’s better for Nigeria to control the exchange rate for now until things improve.
“These are enough reasons for Nigeria to seek to have a greater control of the market, at least in the short to medium term when convergence is expected to be achieved.”
