Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president, has criticised the $3 billion loan given to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to stable the currency as being fraudulent.
In a statement on Wednesday, Mr. Phrank Shaibu, Atiku’s Special Assistant on Public Communications, referred to the stated reason for the loan as a deception to drive the naira to appreciate in the black market.
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He further added that the move was cosmetic and unimaginative and had once again “Exposed President Bola Tinubu as a lilliputian economist that lacked ideas on how to rescue the economy he had pushed to the edge with unviable policies.”
According to him, monetary policy is not the job of the NNPCL but the Central Bank of Nigeria, and wondered why the former, “Which claimed to be a profit-making organisation, would go ahead to take a loan for the primary purpose of stabilising the naira.”
Atiku also drew parallels between the actions of the NNPCL and the CBN under the authority of Godwin Emefiele.
He also claimed that oil production has dropped on Tinubu’s watch due to continuous oil theft, stressing that instead of boosting forex liquidity by increasing production and exports, “The President decided to take the Jejune path of obtaining foreign loans, an inglorious road that his predecessor had travelled.”
He continued, “For many years, Tinubu claimed that he built the economy of Lagos from scratch. Now, he has been exposed as a charlatan. His administration detained Emefiele and vilified him for taking FX loans from JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs running into $7.5bn, which was used in defending the naira.
“Now, Tinubu’s administration claims to have done the same thing by forcing the NNPCL to take a loan of $3bn to defend the naira. We, however, have it on good authority that this is all a ruse to force the naira to appreciate at the parallel market, an action that will further affect the government’s credibility.”
He chided President Tinubu for lacking a clear economic blueprint, arguing that his policy flip-flops had already begun affecting Nigerian bonds, as reported by Bloomberg.
“The PUNCH aptly described Tinubu in its recent editorial as a loose cannon that goes around with a wrecking ball. He takes action whimsically without thinking about consequences. He announced the removal of petrol subsidies without proper planning and brought the nation to its knees.
“He forced the CBN to float the naira even though the country had liquidity problems. Now, he is on the verge of taking the West African region to war without Senate approval. Tinubu is nothing but a myth that will continue to unravel.
“He claims to have deregulated the petroleum sector, and yet NNPC is still the one determining the price of petrol. He has pegged the price of petrol and yet claimed that there is no subsidy. Nigerians must not allow themselves to be deceived by this man,” the statement added.
