Nigeria’s former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has criticized President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s approach to fuel subsidy removal and exchange rate unification, calling them necessary but poorly implemented.
Obasanjo said this in a Sunday statement through his spokesman, Kehinde Akinyemi that his principal made the comment at a colloquium: “Nigeria’s Development: Navigating the Way Out of the Current Economic Crisis and Insecurity” at the Paul Aje Colloquium (tPAC) in Abuja on Saturday.
The statement reads “Today, the government has taken three decisions, two of which are necessary but wrongly implemented and have led to the impoverisation of the economy and of Nigerians. These are the removal of subsidy, closing the gap between the black market and official rates of exchange and the third is dealing with a military coup in Niger Republic,” he said.
“The way forward is production and productivity which belief and trust in government leadership will engender. No shortcut to economic progress but hard work and sweat.”
He also defended his stance on the Port Harcourt refinery and proposed a 25-year development agenda. Additionally, Obasanjo highlighted the need for consistency and transparency in government policies to attract domestic and foreign investment.
He criticized past and present economic policies, stressing the importance of addressing root causes and adopting a multi-faceted approach to national challenges.
Obasanjo cited a lack of long-term sustainable policies, discontinuity, corruption, incompetence, and lack of patriotism as ongoing issues in Nigeria’s economy.
