Atiku Abubakar, a presidential contender for the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has challenged President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies, stating that the country’s deteriorating economic situation is caused by policies that prioritise borrowing, importing, and taxes over manufacturing.
This information was provided by Atiku’s spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu, in Monday’s statement. In the statement, Atiku stated that the country’s deteriorating economic situation is a result of policies that promoted imports over local manufacturing across many years.
Rather than depending largely on imported products, Atiku said that increasing exports, indigenous food production, and manufacturing would help Nigeria’s economy recover.
According to him, the existing economic paradigm has hurt regional businesses, cut down on employment possibilities, and pushed inflation higher nationwide.
Borrowing, importing, and taxing Nigeria’s way to wealth is not going to work. According to Atiku, the key to the country’s economic recovery is increasing domestic production of food, goods for consumption, and exports.
According to the presidential candidate, Nigeria is now more reliant on imported goods because previous policies had prioritised consumption over production. This has left local industries struggling to stay afloat.
We have been praising imports while ignoring domestic production for far too long. Our farms should be producing food, our factories should be making items, and Nigerian hands should be processing raw materials, but instead we import all of it. He made the bold claim that no country has ever been rich by sending jobs abroad and bringing poverty home.
Atiku said that the present economic strategy was failing since food costs were going up and industrial output was going down.
He claims that in spite of states like Niger and Kogi recording food inflation rates of 43.83% and 53.12%, respectively, the national food inflation rate is 17.52%.
The current economic paradigm is failing ordinary residents, according to Atiku, who cited the increased cost of food and declining industrial output as reasons why many Nigerian families are struggling to afford basic essentials.
He further warned that the economy was weakening due to the ongoing drop in local manufacturing and stated that within six months, Nigerian manufacturers spent over N3.53 trillion importing raw materials.
Inflation, a depreciating naira, and the loss of future employment opportunities are all consequences of this, he continued.
An ADC government, according to the former vice president, would put an emphasis on agriculture, manufacturing, technology, value addition, solid minerals, and reducing Nigeria’s reliance on imports.
He promised that his administration would strengthen electrical infrastructure, stabilise the naira, lower tariffs on imported industrial machinery, make loans to farmers and manufacturers more affordable, invest in infrastructure, reform taxes to encourage production, and restore security to farming communities.
The economic reforms that Atiku oversaw as Vice President under Olusegun Obasanjo brought in private investment and increased economic growth, according to Atiku.
In countries where financing is too expensive, energy is too expensive, the currency is unstable, and people are too impoverished to buy locally created items, factories cannot prosper. Let me break it down for you: Create in Nigeria. Hire native Nigerians. Buy things made in Nigeria. “Spread Nigerian excellence,” he declared.