The Presidency has hit back at former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over his warning that worsening hunger in Nigeria could fuel unrest in the country.
Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement released on Monday, dismissed Atiku’s claims as “grossly misleading” and “out of touch with the positive developments currently unfolding in the country.”
Onanuga criticised Atiku for drawing comparisons between Nigeria’s current situation and historical revolutions, including the French Revolution of 1789 and the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. “Their latest statement demonstrates a disconnect from the authentic Nigerian reality,” he said, citing recent data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
According to Onanuga, the NBS reported that headline inflation declined for the fifth consecutive month in August, while over the weekend, the bureau also recorded a trade surplus with non-oil exports now contributing nearly 48 per cent of Nigeria’s trade balance. He further noted that the country’s foreign exchange reserves are approaching $42 billion, up from $32 billion when President Tinubu assumed office, with more than $7 billion in arrears cleared, including $800 million owed to airlines.
The Presidency also highlighted that states are now able to pay salaries and gratuities promptly while still having surplus funds for capital and social projects, describing these achievements as unprecedented. “Nigeria is moving in the right direction,” Onanuga said, adding that Atiku and his party remain “stuck in the past, fixated on doomsday scenarios and revolutionary rhetoric.”
The statement argued that many of the economic challenges currently facing the country stemmed from mismanagement during the PDP administration, when Atiku served as Vice President. Onanuga said that President Tinubu and his team are working relentlessly to correct these issues through bold reforms, emphasizing that after just two years and five months in office, measurable progress is being made.
Atiku, in a statement issued on Monday through his media office, had warned that hunger and poverty remain pervasive in the country despite the government’s claims of reform. He argued that worsening economic conditions were pushing citizens toward criminality, insecurity, and social unrest.
“The masses of Nigerians are progressively wallowing in misery and poverty under the watch of the Tinubu-led APC administration,” Atiku said. He recalled global uprisings such as the French Revolution, the 1917 Russian Revolution, and the Arab Spring, attributing them to widespread deprivation and frustration, and noted that the ENDSARS protests in Nigeria were similarly fuelled by hunger and government insensitivity.
Atiku maintained that two years into the Tinubu administration, “there are still no manifest signs” that the government is capable of addressing hunger and poverty. He insisted that reforms must have a human face and prioritize citizens’ welfare. “Whatever reform the Tinubu government might claim to be undertaking, the point remains that food insecurity is a daily occurrence nationwide,” he said, adding that the poor continue to suffer under ill-advised policies.
Since assuming office in 2023, President Tinubu has rolled out major economic reforms, including the removal of fuel subsidies and the floating of the naira. While these policies have faced criticism for exacerbating living conditions, the Presidency maintains that they are necessary for long-term stability and economic growth.
Atiku, propaganda has not won election before and will never win. The possibility of you becoming Nigeria’s president is 0%
Imagine you sounding like a fool
Apart from coming to context again has Atiko not spoken well on the problems we’re facing the country?
Who is actually disconnected from the people who are bearing the burden and hopelessness. Bayo onanuga is very much disconnected. Anguish every where from south to the north. Truth is like pregnancy that Cannot be covered with both hands. Roads from south to north are in very sorry state making traveling hellish.
Martins, you and desperate Atiku know next to nothing. Atiku can’t win a debate on the economy against an average SS2 student.
Atiku meant bad he only want to enrich his cronies, it has never won him an election propaganda!
Useless government of tinubu
ATIKU IS A DESTRUCTIVE OPPOSITION LEADER IN NIGERIA . HE CANNEVER BE PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA .
Onauga, let me remind you that your principal once asked ‘na statistics we go chop’? You are reeling out statistics now that has no bearing with the stark reality on the ground. If you pretend not to know, there is poverty in the land. We don’t have enough of the non oil exports,but we are exporting increasing the prices locally! Do you people in government see the facts at all?
Nothing wrong with Atiku’s statement or admonition. It’s all part of the required or needed opposition pressure to keep the government on its toes. And the government’s response is also part of democratic diplomacies, not propaganda because there’s truly hunger and hardship in the land. The government’s response is an acknowledgement of this fact. The doomsday or alarmist picture the government painted in its response, is what I regard as propaganda.
Nigeria is like George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Onanuga’s role as Squealer is nauseating. Many if ys were adults before Onanuga was born. Ruling by deceipt cannot help Nigeria.
It isn’t about Atiku,’s comments but reality is that this present government is putting more pressure on average Nigerians on daily basis thereby making life more difficult and unbearable.
Is Atiku saying there were no hungry people when he was Vice President? What did they do to chart Nigeria towards the path of progress? Were people not queuing outside politicians’ houses waiting for pap and beans ball during Atiku’s time for their three square meals? Politicians, in Atiku’s time, had unbridled access to unlimited funds: oil subsidy money, corrupt dual Forex dealings, funds earmarked for infrastructure development, that gave them billions in dollars, enabling them to keep the citizens enslaved and pauperised, perpetually looking up to politicians for their daily bread and survival. Effectively using this ploy to stop the people from revolting. Shame on all these past, so called leaders, for running the nation and its people aground. Then, out of power, they wear a sanctimonious facade, pretending to be lovers of the people or the nation which they milked dry and left in the doldrums!