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• Says Obi ran away from erosion in Anambra, accuses Atiku of abandoning PDP ship and lacking leadership qualities
• Announces funds recovered by EFCC will be pushed into NELFUND henceforth
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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Uyo
President Bola Tinubu has claimed that Nigeria’s currency would have become so worthless that citizens would have needed wheelbarrows to carry naira to the market if his administration had failed to take decisive economic measures when it assumed office.
The President, who spoke on Friday at a reception in his honour at the ARISE Palm Resort in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, said the decisions taken by his administration had saved the country from economic collapse, despite the hardship they imposed on Nigerians.
He also attacked opposition figures Peter Obi and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, questioning their leadership credentials and accusing Obi of failing to confront erosion in Anambra State and Atiku of abandoning the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) when his leadership was challenged.
Defending his administration’s currency and economic reforms, Tinubu said the country was facing the prospect of severe financial instability when he took office in May 2023.
“By now, if we didn’t take a decision the day I took over, we will use wheelbarrows to move our naira because it would have been valueless,” he said.
“We are talking of N1,300 now to a dollar because it still has pocketable value. If we had left it, it would have been a wheelbarrow when you go to tomatoes market. That is the truth.”
The President also claimed that 27 of the 36 state governors could not meet their salary obligations when he assumed office, let alone pay pensions and gratuities.
“When I took over, 27 governors out of 36 governors of this country were unable to pay salary obligations, not to talk of pensions and gratuity,” he said.
“Today, as I stand before you, we are able to say we are out of that dark tunnel. I can beat my chest to say we are out of the greatest despair, the dark tunnel of uncertainty and the calamity of possible bankruptcy.”
Acknowledging the economic difficulties Nigerians have faced since the reforms began, Tinubu said he shared their pain, despite being financially comfortable.
“It is difficult, it was hard, it was hard for me too. And I could say, going by history, that I am a comfortable man. I don’t know the pain of the market, but I share your pain, I share your difficulty,” he said.
He defended the removal of the fuel subsidy, insisting that the country would not return to the policy.
Using the biblical account of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt, Tinubu said Nigeria must continue with its economic reforms rather than return to what he described as an unsustainable past.
“My wife is a Pastor, she taught me Bible, that once upon a time there was Moses and Pharaoh. Pharaoh was a magician, he did everything and he won’t let the believers go. They decided to leave anyway,” he said.
“The Red Sea parted way and gave Moses and his people opening to pass. Those who wanted to double-cross them perished in the Red Sea, so no way you will take Moses back to Egypt.”
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He added: “We won’t go back to Egypt, we must go forward. We are going forward, Nigeria will never go back to subsidy unless there’s no uncommon Governor, unless there’s no uncommon Senate President, unless there’s no lawmaking again.”
Tinubu also announced that funds recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) would be channelled into the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), saying the intervention was intended to widen access to education and reduce the financial burden on parents.
“Taking education as the greatest weapon against poverty and creating opportunities for those who are still coming behind,” he said.
“From today on, as we are fighting corruption, any money recovered from EFCC is dumped into that education programme, NELFUND. No one can reverse it.”
Turning to his political opponents, the President took a swipe at Obi, the former Anambra State governor, over the erosion menace in the state.
He contrasted Obi’s record with the reclamation of land threatened by the Atlantic Ocean in Lagos, arguing that the ARISE Palm Resort in Uyo itself demonstrated what determined leadership could achieve.
The resort, which Tinubu said was developed on 73 hectares of land reclaimed from gully erosion, has an artificial lake and a golf course.
Praising Akwa Ibom Governor Umo Eno for the project, he said: “Umo Eno, you are a good thinker and a good doer.”
He added: “Look at these people, you want to laugh? Here we are on a resort claimed from erosion and we are going to enjoy the life here. But then, compare the brain of this man to that of Obi, he ran away from erosion in Anambra and he now wants to be President? President of where? Lilicapu?”
The President also questioned Atiku’s leadership qualities, accusing the former Vice-President of abandoning the PDP after challenges to his leadership emerged.
Without mentioning Atiku by name in the transcript, Tinubu referred to a politician who, he said, had moved from the PDP to another political platform in pursuit of the presidency.
“Immediately a little inkling came that they were going to challenge his leadership, he ran away, he abandoned the party. He now moved to ADC or somewhere and he is looking for Presidency,” Tinubu said.
He questioned whether such a politician possessed the leadership qualities required to govern Nigeria.
“Will you give such a person who has no leadership quality, no sense of responsibility, no sense of cohesion that can do good to this country the Presidency?” he asked.
Tinubu’s remarks came amid his campaign for re-election in 2027. He urged Nigerians to support his administration’s direction, promising that the country would move forward rather than return to the economic policies he said had threatened its stability.
The President also praised Eno for uniting the people of Akwa Ibom and assured the state that the proposed Ibom Deep Seaport would be delivered.
“Keep your promise, I will keep mine. There will be Akwa Ibom Deep Seaport. God bless you,” he said.
