Nigerians living better than other Africans – Tinubu�

President Bola Tinubu has claimed that Nigerians comparatively are better off than their African counterparts when it comes to costs of living.

Tinubu made the claim in a release by his special media adviser on media and strategy Bayo Onanuga.

Onanuga was responding to the criticism by opposition politician Abubakar Atiku about the President’s handling of the Nigerian economy.

According to Atiku, the president’s “renewed hope agenda” has turned to despair for many Nigerians, but the presidency disagreed.

The presidency’s statement reads in part: “His (Atiku) claim that the government’s policies have created intense cost of living pressures are also not grounded on facts as recent comparative cost of living indices show that Nigerians still enjoy the lowest cost of living in Africa,” the presidency asserted.

“All the major candidates agreed that the fuel subsidy regime, which had become an albatross on the economy, must end.

“They all agreed that the multiple exchange rates must be fixed.

“Where President Tinubu and Atiku differed was in selling NNPC Limited and other national assets.

“Atiku went for this so he could sell these important national assets to his friends and cronies.

“President Tinubu removed the subsidy from Day One and announced moves to harmonise the exchange rates.

“Since then, he and his economic team have been working vigorously to harmonise the rates and also end the rampant and criminal arbitrage that the multiple windows allowed.

“Atiku’s claims that the private sector is shrinking and that multinational companies are leaving our companies in ‘droves’ are not grounded on facts.

“Atiku should be honest enough to admit that President Tinubu inherited a weak economy.

“The economy was plagued by decades of significant fiscal deficits, a low revenue base, high external and domestic debts, and huge debt service burden.

“The national budget Tinubu met in 2023 showed that 97 percent of revenue was to be spent on debt servicing, with little reserved for capital, thereby foreclosing growth and jobs.

“Confronted with this grim economic reality, President Tinubu faced a difficult choice of balancing the political and economic costs of reforms against the risks of economic recession.

“President Tinubu is focused on solving our economic and security challenges.”