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From Idu Jude, Abuja
Architect Dr Peter Agada, presidential candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), has critiqued the 90-day action plan by the APC, describing it as a campaign strategy that does not reflect economic reality.
Consequently, while proffering solutions, he recommended the #LabourDirect Ward-to-Ward development strategy as the easiest way to empower Nigerians with N40 million monthly.
It is worth noting that Oyedele, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, has announced that the National Executive Council (NEC) has approved a 90-day plan to ease the cost of living.
Dr Agada, while reacting to this in a telephone chat, highlighted that the APC-led administration had failed for the umpteenth time after introducing numerous failed economic intervention measures.
He said, “#LabourDirect, the ward-to-ward strategy of my campaign council remains an option that can capture all Nigerians within 60 days of implementation.”
“We said 60 days. It can be done, and as we know, about 20 days are gone, so what remains is about just 60 days.
At the moment, they have to take a look at our ward-to-ward development plan. If they approach me to cover and implement the 60-day development plan based on my strategy, Nigerians will have more confidence that they have called one of the candidates to help. They should be calling people who can help to come over because they have done something that made the macro economy work; then the next is how to call on other Nigerians to make the micro economy work before January 16th.
So what we are saying is that the dashboard they are creating should include the LIN System (Labour Direct Information Network) that directly monitors the project, employment, production, monitoring and evaluation, the feedstock, outputs, tax, revenues, all from a single application.”
“I have listened to many television and radio analysts, but none spoke positively in support of Tinubu’s economic team. And that has got to show that they have lost their bearings.”
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“All his intervention plans, including the reduction of pump price, which did not go in line with NNPC and CNG, and he also talked about the removal of illegal levies, and nothing was done. So some days later, when he saw that the 17-point plan was not landing with Nigerians, they came up with a 90-day timeline.”
He said, “These promises back and forth are for Nigerians to believe and vote them back into office. So if you believe in the rules of the game they are playing, there are just 85 days to the election, and you are saying a 90-day timeline to cushion the cost of living. So after the election, what happens? These guys are playing mind games, and they really think that we are all stupid in this country?”
“What is he trying to do in 90 days? Nothing. Because they have tried everything they could to stop the problems they created, and nothing is working, so much so that they have truncated the lives of our farmers. For this import revenue they are giving, they are already cutting import waivers, and the revenue cost of customs rose to 35 trillion naira. And about 60% of it is for military hardware importation; a reminder of this programme, they are not accounting for that money.”
Further lamenting, Agada noted that the administration has announced several social intervention measures, but none has worked.
“Let me remind us that after announcing subsidies in 2023, President Tinubu also announced a raft of measures, including an injection of 75 billion naira in manufacturing, which was never done. Another 75 billion naira targeted at micro SMEs, 50 billion to conditional grants to SMEs, grain and fertiliser distribution, and direct release of 2 metric tons, investment of 200 billion to cultivate 500 hectares of land, and dedicating 50 billion naira each to rice farmers. So after making such a policy like that for intervention, and a year after, you went and removed all the tariff on food importation, and that didn’t fight food inflation, but the rebate when you were calculating food inflation.
“And you have to reduce the weighted average of food. If you said you were fighting food inflation, then return food prices to where they were before you took office.
Also, there was allocation of 100 billion to the CNG initiative, state infrastructure fund, minimum wage increase – yes, he did that, and that was in 2023.
Let us look at these things critically: if he says he is looking at a raft of measures now to be able to change what he has cost in the past three years, how feasible is it going to be? And that is why we are saying that Nigerians need to be circumspect; we need to hold government to account.
“They have said all these before, but the dashboard I would like them to create is month-after-month job creation; if not, all these are just coming out as a campaign strategy ahead of 2027,” he lamented.
