BY OLAYINKA HANNAH
Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President of Nigeria, who was also an opponent of the current president of Nigeria, has slammed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of putting his personal interests above that of his citizens.
The former Vice President said in a statement that instead of Tinibu to implement policies and bring in new strategies to promote investments, he has been busy placing emphasis on his personal life and family.
He also spoke against the background of the Lagos-calabar coastal highway project, he stated that the presence of Seyi the son of President Tinubu on the board of the company owned by those handling the project is a conflict of interest.
According to Atiku, the awarding of the Lagos- calabar coastal highway was rushed; the right of way for the 700km stretch of the highway project was not secured. The N500 million that was approved by the National Assembly for the project was ignored, while Tinubu released over one trillion naira without approval from the National Assembly.
He also stated that the destruction of the most popular beach, that is the Landmark Beach without compensation to the owners is a big red flag for other investors who may be interested in investing in Nigeria.
“Investors are seeing how local businesses are being treated in Nigeria and they may not want to invest in a place where their investments cannot be protected. In a more sustainable environment, businesses such as Landmark Beach should have been given at least two years notice in order for effective planning. But the current president’s interest to sastify his business partners diminished his ability to coordinate the project properly,” Atiku.
Atiku also said that a project that is being done in excess of $13bn was awarded without a proper competitive procurement, the so called Badagry to Sokoto highway would also be awarded in a similar way to an enormous cost to taxpayers just because the current president has put his own personal interests ahead of his citizens.
Atiku noted that the International Monetary Funds (IMF) in its lastest report stated that Nigeria will be by the end of the year become the 4th largest economy in African 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 stage in 2015.
He said that from the president falsely claiming to have removed subsidies to secretly paying billions monthly based on the revelations of Nasir el-Rufai, the Tinubu administration has shown a lack of coordination, failing to even explain to Nigerians the reason things are expensive and why there is scarcity of petrol across the country.
Atiku Abubakar, therefore, advised President Tinubu and his team to focus more on improving the ease of doing business in Nigeria and do less of propaganda.
