Dr. Salihu Lukman, a former vice chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the region’s northwestern region, has decried the deterioration of Nigerians’ standard of life and the unprecedented growth of poverty in the country under President Bola Tinubu.
On Monday, Lukman released a statement titled “Disturbing Signals: Open Letter to President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu” in which he criticised the President for making a number of troubling actions since he took office.
He criticised policymakers’ handling of the issue of the exchange rate in particular.
The currency rate decisions, Lukman said, “will be an integral part of the government’s broader economic policy.” There appears to be no overarching economic strategy behind the recent decision to let the Naira float.
The result is a continuous decline in the value of the Naira. The subsidy cut has increased transit costs, adding to the already significant inflationary strain on the economy. Consequently, people’s standard of living is deteriorating. If this trend continues, the number of people living in poverty will soar to levels that are unimaginably great.
The party leader further said that President Bola Tinubu’s weak commitment to battling corruption was signalled by the appointment of Dr. Abdulahi Ganduje, the former governor of Kano State, as the party’s National Chairman.
The nominees for Tinubu’s cabinet, according to Lukman, were a huge letdown.
Lukman claimed the President’s choice of ministers had crushed Nigerians’ hopes.
The quality of your appointees is the third worrying signal,” he stated. Sincerely, Your Excellency, you know how to uncover talents was a major campaign topic during the 2023 electoral campaigns. People assumed you were taking your time to find unarguable experts when it took you more than eight weeks to designate your Ministers.
Despite your best intentions, many party members and, by extension, Nigerians were dissatisfied by the nominees you chose. No reasonable person could be fooled into thinking that talent wasn’t a major part in this selection process; political considerations were far more important. As it stands, our hopes for your government as party members and as Nigerians have been dashed.
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