TheCable

Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to the president on information and strategy, says recent claims made by Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president, on foreign exchange (FX) are “false and preposterous”.

Abubakar had earlier today said Tinubu has failed to show the “concrete policies” his administration is taking to address the prevailing economic hardship.

He also claimed that the meeting held with the 36 state governors was centred on discussing the FX crisis and currency fluctuation.

Responding to the claims on Sunday, Onanuga said Abubakar’s statement was “not true”.

“Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, in an attempt to rubbish the foreign exchange policy of the Tinubu administration got his facts muddled up again,” Onanuga said.

“He also failed to prescribe a better policy option to what Governor Olayemi Cardoso and his team are executing at the apex bank.

“First of all, it was not true that President Tinubu’s meeting last Thursday with the 36 State Governors was centred on discussing foreign exchange crisis and currency fluctuation

“What was discussed in the main was food supply and how to drastically reduce the food prices. 

“The minister of Information, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, gave a briefing about the meeting, revealing the highlights to State House Correspondents. 

“One was that the meeting established a nexus between the state of security and the rising cost of food. Another was that hoarders are warehousing food, creating artificial scarcity and thus enabling the high cost of food items.

“The decisions at the meeting reflected the main points discussed: Forest rangers are to be strengthened and armed, while police are to recruit more men and the National Economic Council to deepen discussions about creating state police.

“There was no deliberation as former VP Atiku claimed on currency fluctuation. 

“As Alhaji Atiku should know, this is the business of the Central Bank, which has the autonomy to handle the country’s monetary policies.

“As a matter of fact, the president enjoined the governors, in passing, to allow the CBN do its work and refrain from dabbling into what is within CBN’s purview.”

Speaking further, Onanuga said Abubakar ought to praise Tinubu for maintaining this stance and for not interfering with the business of the central bank.

“It is false and preposterous for Atiku to claim that CBN’s FX management policy was hurriedly put together without proper plans and consultations with stakeholders and that the apex bank is hamstrung by Tinubu’s government in implementing a sound FX management policy that would have dealt with such issues as increasing liquidity, curtailing/regulating demand, dealing with FX backlogs and rate convergence,” he added.

“Contrary to former VP Atiku’s claim, Cardoso’s CBN is implementing a raft of policies to stabilise the naira and end volatility in the market and this is already yielding some positive results. 

“Alhaji Atiku will agree that the rise in capital inflow suggests massive investors’ confidence in Nigeria and the policy direction of the Tinubu administration.”

Onanuga also said when juxtaposed with the policy options being implemented by the CBN, Atiku’s alternative of a controlled floatation of the naira “is similar to the policy of Godwin Emefiele”.