Social Democratic Party (SDP) Presidential Candidate, Adebayo Adewole has said President Bola Tinubu must take responsibility for Nigeria’s worsening poverty, arguing that his administration has failed to provide solutions and has no new ideas to address the country’s economic problems.
Speaking during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday, Adewole emphasised that Tinubu’s 90-day plan to ease the cost of living would not solve the country’s economic problems. He suggested that the president’s most effective option would be to resign and allow someone else to lead the country.
“So President Tinubu has no excuse than to hold himself accountable. And if he doesn’t have any new programme, as he showed in the historical analysis he was giving, they were always looking to the back, to the past, every totality of the economic philosophy of Trinibunomics end with half a bag of rice. And that is why the only effective solution that the president can bring forward, which would deal with poverty, cost of living in 90 days, is to have a 90-minute discussion with his cabinet and resign, so that another person can give it a try.”
He insisted that said Tinubu had been in office for three and a half years without finding solutions to the country’s problems. “Whether the poverty is inherited, imported, or falls from the sky, he has been presiding over that poverty in the last three and a half years. And he has not found a single solution to any of the indices.”
Adewole also argued that Nigeria’s multidimensional poverty had worsened since Tinubu took office on May 29, 2023.
“The multidimensional poverty in the country is worse now than it was when he came into power on May 29, 2023, It’s even exponentially worse than when he escorted President Buhari to power in 2015.”
He said Tinubu should focus on explaining his administration’s record and presenting a clear plan for the future instead of blaming previous governments. “A campaign for presidency for someone who is an incumbent has only three parts. You would account for the problems you met on the ground. Two, you would account for the efforts you have made to improve the situation. Three, you will account for what you want to do next.”
“It is the solidity of your plan, not the number of poor bearers, started by your left or right, that makes a presidential campaign. It is your ability to come with ideas.”
Adewole also criticised the timing of the Federal Government’s 90-day action plan, which includes measures on food affordability, tax harmonisation, major projects and household support. “It is telling that the president who has been in power for three and a half years, going on four years, only remember a 90-day plan, 90 days to the election. So all that shows to you that they are not governing, they are politicking.”
He said the government could not resolve structural economic problems within 90 days. “90 days is a short-term plan. The content of their programme, what they say they want to do, are things that are medium-term and long-term,
because when you want to affect price, you need to do what we call price mechanism, which is supply and demand. They want to deal with purchasing power, cost of living. You have to handle your fiscal policy and monetary policy. You can’t do any of those in 90 days.”
Adewole accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of relying on palliatives instead of offering lasting solutions to the country’s problems.
“What they are trying to do is try to, one, give a false impression that they care when they don’t. Two, to try to bring money out to bribe voters with some symbolic palliatives, bag of rice and everything, because in the medical laboratory of the APC, every problem in Nigeria, insecurity, bad roads, poor education, no health care, can be cured by a bag of rice.”
He noted that SDP had proposed a one-year plan focusing on agricultural production, security, employment and lower energy costs.
“What we have laid out is a one-year plan. Since the first one year, we deal with the agricultural output. We deal with the issue of security. We deal with the issue of employment. We deal with the issue of lowering the cost of energy, so that people can actually have some retention of money in their pocket.”
Adewole argued that domestic crude supply should be treated separately from crude allocated for export under the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quota system. “What we have in our plan, and it’s very clear, is that the crude oil in Nigeria has two types. We are creating two markets. That’s what we have done historically. We have the export crude, which is governed by OPEC. Whatever allocation OPEC gives to you is the amount of crude you can sell in that market.”
He said OPEC quotas did not limit the amount of crude Nigeria could produce for domestic consumption. “When it comes to domestic supply of crude, the OPEC regulation quota system doesn’t apply. There is no limit to the amount of crude you can raise in your country, provided that you dedicate certain oil fields for domestic energy security.”
Adewole said 445,000 barrels of crude had traditionally been intended for domestic consumption. “What we want to do in our own government is that, traditionally, we have 445,000 barrels, which was meant for domestic consumption. It was not supposed to be part of the one we count for exportation. That 445,000 barrels, nobody has accounted for it.”
He argued that claims that forward contracts and production-sharing agreements had reduced the crude available for domestic use.
That is a good case for everybody who is involved in it, President Inubo, the entire cabinet, everybody who is the NPC to resign, because that is not a mandate given to the NNPC, even in the NNPC Act.”
Adewole indicated that SDP offered an alternative to the APC and urged Nigerians to support the party in the next election. “So we need to pivot away. And the SDP is just the right party, with the right manifesto, with the right personnel, for you to vote in the presidency and other positions,” he said.
Erizia Rubyjeana
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