The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar has called on President Bola Tinubu to focus more on attracting real investors than adopting propaganda as a state policy.
Atiku said this in a statement on Sunday by his Media Adviser, Paul urged Tinubu and his economic team to do less of propaganda and focus on improving the ease of doing business as this remained the surest path to sustainability.
He said: “Tinubu has been globetrotting in search of foreign direct investments. He claims to have secured over $30 billion from various companies, but none has been forthcoming.
‘Rather, all manufacturing firms have been posting heavy losses while some are exiting due to his poorly implemented exchange rate unification policy with even Aliko Dangote describing it as a huge mess at the recent annual general meeting of Dangote Sugar Refinery.”
Atiku noted that the International Monetary Fund (IMF in its latest report stated that Nigeria would by the end of the year become the 4th largest economy in Africa behind South Africa, Egypt and Algeria, a disgraceful development for a nation which was the largest in Africa by a mile when the PDP left the stage in 2015.
He added: “Investors are seeing how local businesses are being treated and will not come to a place where their investments will not be protected. In saner climes, businesses such as Landmark would have been given at least two years’ notice in order for effective planning. But Tinubu’s eagerness to satisfy his business partners impaired his ability to coordinate the project properly.”
“The awarding of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway was rushed; the environmental impact assessment report was not even completed; the right of way for the 700 km stretch of the highway project was not secured; it was converted from a PPP to a government funded project within the twinkle of an eye. The N500 million that was approved by the National Assembly for the project was ignored, while over N1 trillion was released by Tinubu’s administration without approval from the National Assembly.
“From falsely claiming to have removed subsidies to secretly paying billions monthly based on the revelation of Nasir el-Rufai, the Tinubu administration has shown a lack of coordination and transparency, failing to even explain to Nigerians why there is petrol scarcity across the country.”
The former vice president pointed out that Tinubu’s son and his surrogates are on the board of companies owned by Gilbert Chagoury, which clearly constitutes a conflict of interest.
He alleged that Tinubu’s son, Seyi, is a director on the board of CDK Integrated Industries, a subsidiary of the Chagoury Group, which manufactures ceramic tiles and sanitary towels.
Citing a report by Paris-based Africa Intelligence News Agency where it was revealed by the Corporate Affairs Commission that Seyi is officially a business associate of Chagoury, the former Vice President said it was not surprising that the Chagoury Group had become the biggest beneficiary of the Tinubu largesse.
He said, “Thanks to quality reporting by Africa Intelligence, our suspicions have been confirmed that Chagoury and Tinubu are indeed business partners and it has been formalized with Seyi on the board of one of Chagoury’s firms.”
The former Vice President restated that it has become obvious even to the undiscerning that the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is being done in a hurry purely because of the business relationship between Tinubu and Gilbert Chagoury, the owner of Hitech, the contractor that was awarded the contract for the highway project in contravention of the procurement laws.
Atiku stressed that it is on record that this project is the most expensive single project ever embarked upon by the Nigerian government. The fact that it is happening at a time Nigeria is facing its worst economic crisis ever is a red flag.
He added: “To add insult to injury, this project that is being done in excess of $13 billion was awarded without a competitive bidding. From all indications, the so-called Badagry-Sokoto highway would be awarded in a similar fashion at an enormous cost to taxpayers purely because Tinubu has put his personal interest ahead of the Nigerian people.”