Also, former Cross River State Governor and presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, has called for a fundamental shift in Nigeria’s economic direction, arguing that the country would not benefit from a continuation of the Tinubu administration’s policies.
Duke said Nigeria needed imaginative and strategically designed policies capable of driving sustainable growth, developing its natural resources, harnessing human capital and reducing poverty.
“The Nigerian economy will not benefit from the continuation of the Tinubu administration’s economic policies,” Duke declared.
“The strength of our economy will be reinforced by imaginative, strategically-designed policies that address growth,” he added.
The former governor said Nigerians deserved an administration with policies designed to address growth and alleviate what he described as the current crushing level of poverty.
“Nigerians deserve an administration strategically-designed with policies that address growth and alleviate the current crushing level of poverty,” he said.
Duke urged Nigerians to move beyond what he described as “pandering debates” over the economy, insisting that the country needed informed and growth-oriented policies that would deliver tangible improvements in citizens’ lives.
“The nation must move beyond pandering debates to adopting well-informed and growth-oriented policies,” he said.
He argued that the performance of the economy should not be measured primarily by government revenue or foreign reserves but by indicators that reflected the welfare of citizens.
“The yardstick of measuring the wellbeing of our economy shall not be based on the manipulated volume of our foreign reserves, but rather on employment indices and income per capita,” Duke said.
He was particularly critical of the handling of petrol subsidy, arguing that the arrangement that existed before the Tinubu administration had been replaced by what he described as a poorly managed alternative that benefited government finances while increasing the economic burden on citizens.
“The fuel subsidy scam which preceded the Tinubu administration has been replaced by an even more poorly-managed option which makes more devalued money for the governments, impoverishes its citizens and depletes the economy,” he said.
Duke maintained that Nigeria must move beyond recurring political arguments and subject its economic policies to scrutiny, with greater emphasis on sustainable growth, productive use of natural resources, job creation and higher incomes.
He said the PRP would prioritise the productive use of Nigeria’s natural and human resources as part of its economic approach. “Quality of the livelihood of Nigerians shall remain our goal,” Duke said.
Idris: Restoring Fuel Subsidy Will Reverse Economic Gains
Meanwhile, Information and National Orientation Minister, Mohammed Idris, has warned that any attempt to restore fuel subsidy would reverse the economic gains recorded under the reforms of the Tinubu administration, arguing that the policy would recreate the fiscal pressures and distortions that made the subsidy regime unsustainable.
Idris, in an op-ed on Sunday, said the hardship associated with the reforms should not be addressed by dismantling them, but by accelerating the delivery of their benefits to Nigerians through improved public services, job creation, infrastructure and better living standards.
“The above illustrates an important point: restoring subsidy would almost instantly return Nigeria to the economic conditions of 2022, recreating the same fiscal pressures, distortions, scarcity and incentives for arbitrage that made the old system unsustainable in the first place.
“We are not claiming that the reforms have solved all of Nigeria’s economic challenges; there is indeed still much work to be done to translate improved fiscal capacity into better services, jobs, infrastructure and living standards. But the proper response to the hardship associated with reform is not to dismantle the reform; it is to accelerate the benefits – which remains what the Tinubu administration is resolutely focused on.
“The objective is clear: to move public resources away from subsidising consumption and towards investing in the Nigerian people and the productive foundations of lasting prosperity,” he explained.
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