In a scathing critique of the current administration, a prominent figure within the All Progressives Congress (APC), Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has voiced his discontent with the explanations and deflections offered by the presidency regarding Nigeria’s deepening economic challenges.
Eze’s remarks highlight a growing concern over the direction in which President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s leadership is steering the country’s economy.
He accused President Tinubu and his cabinet of being mired in a dilemma with no apparent solution to alleviate the nation from its current predicament.
He pointed out that the Nigerian economy is on a relentless decline, with the Naira’s value plummeting against other major currencies, pushing the country towards an economic abyss.
The APC stalwart observed the dire consequences of the currency’s depreciation, including skyrocketing prices for food and essential commodities, leading to widespread hunger and malnutrition among the populace.
Eze lamented the visible despair on the faces of Nigerians, many of whom struggle to afford a single meal a day.
Despite the dire economic situation, which has branded Nigeria as the “poverty capital of the world,” Eze expressed bewilderment at some analysts’ support for Tinubu’s policies.
He argued that even if the policies were theoretically sound, the lack of consideration for the complex dynamics involved in policy implementation has resulted in a significant disconnect between the government’s intentions and the outcomes.
Eze also responded to a recent statement by Vice President Kashim Shettima, who suggested that politicians dissatisfied with the 2023 election results were plotting to destabilize Nigeria.
Dismissing Shettima’s allegations as trivial, Eze contended that Tinubu’s administration had shown no genuine commitment to addressing the nation’s challenges, focusing instead on the prestige of the presidency.
He said, “The pernicious effects of perpetual poverty have become real under his administration and these are his chief legacies.
“There seems to be no efforts by the present administration in tackling the economic concerns of the country and if there are, he said, it means such efforts are not good enough and shifting blame to patriots who are in their private capacities thinking out ways to help the country is to say the least myopic.
“I laugh at the reasons expounded by some of our leaders and Scholars as the factors behind our present food Crisis. They failed to highlight insecurity as the main bane of the present economic woes facing Nigeria.
“Where do we get the food to eat when most of the farmers both in the North and Southern sections of this country particularly those in the North Central are now in the IDP Camps leaving their farms in the hands of herders?
“And we are busy fooling ourselves that we don’t have enough food to feed the populace. What part of Nigeria is safe or secure for normal farming activities to take place?
“This is the reality. Our problem is human-induced yet we are expecting God to send us manna from Heaven as he did to the people of Israel who had no means of farming at the period God sent manna to them.”
Eze highlighted that apart from insecurity, another major cause of Nigeria’s present woes was the inability of the President who in 2012 highlighted the consequences of the removal of subsidy but was carried away by his election victory and announced without a proper study and provision to ameliorate the suffering of Nigerians, the removal of oil subsidy.