N266bn foreign investment outflow vote of no confidence in Tinubu government — Atiku

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Atiku Abubakar

African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar has said that reports of a net foreign investment outflow of ₦266.07 billion from Nigeria between January 2026 and July 2026 indicate a lack of confidence in the management of the economy by President Bola Tinubu.

Atiku, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, stated that the latest Nigerian Exchange data should trouble every Nigerian.

According to him, “Between January and July 2026 alone, foreign investors brought ₦513.36 billion into the Nigerian equities market but pulled out ₦779.43 billion, leaving a staggering net outflow of ₦266.07 billion. Foreign outflows exceeded inflows in every single month during the period. The net outflow is about 11.7 times the ₦22.68 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2023.

“This is not merely an investment statistic. It is a confidence verdict on the Tinubu economy. Imagine a market where the shop owners are broke, customers have no money, the landlord keeps borrowing from everybody, and the few outsiders who brought capital are quietly carrying their money away. Only a foolish landlord would stand at the gate and call that prosperity. That is Tinubu’s economy.”

The former Vice President recalled that “only yesterday, Nigerians learnt that the Federal Government had increased its domestic borrowing by 90.5 per cent to ₦24.7 trillion in just eight months, while credit to government grew more than four times faster than credit to the private sector.

“So the picture is now painfully clear: Tinubu’s government is crowding Nigerian businesses out of the domestic credit market while foreign investors are taking their money and heading for the exit.

“Local businesses are suffocating. Foreign capital is fleeing. Government borrowing is exploding. Food prices have skyrocketed. Transportation costs are crushing families. Yet the same administration continues to congratulate itself on economic reforms.”

The ADC candidate noted that while Nigerians were allegedly labouring under the weight of what he described as the government’s “disastrous” policies, the Tinubu administration was still celebrating its handling of the economy.

He noted that “an economy cannot be said to be recovering when entrepreneurs cannot afford credit, manufacturers struggle with operating costs, households are poorer and investors remain unwilling to keep their money in the country.

“The Tinubu administration may continue to manufacture impressive speeches and celebrate headline numbers, but investors are looking at the fundamentals — policy consistency, inflation, purchasing power, predictable regulation and the ability to earn sustainable real returns. And their verdict is increasingly unmistakable: take the money and run.”

Atiku argued that Nigeria needs an economic policy that would restore confidence, lower the cost of doing business and encourage production, stating that this is the difference between the policies of the present administration and those he would pursue if elected president.

“Nigeria requires an economic policy that restores confidence, lowers the cost of doing business, makes energy and transportation affordable, encourages production and allows the private sector — rather than government borrowing — to drive growth.

“That is the fundamental difference between Tinubu’s economics of government consumption and Atiku’s economics of private-sector production and household affordability.

“You cannot borrow the private sector dry, impoverish consumers and then advertise yourself to the world as an investment destination. The investors are already answering the propaganda. They are leaving,” he stated.

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