A former Presidential Spokesperson, Dr. Doyin Okupe, and Afenifere, a Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and sociopolitical group, clashed on Thursday over the state of Nigeria’s economy. While Okupe stated that the country’s economy was showing signs of improvement, Afenifere claimed that the president had damaged it.
Afenifere explicitly chastised President Bola Tinubu administration for a lack of foresight and understanding in the management of public finances, which has now been destroyed.
Afenifere also underlined the government’s “reckless, obstinate, and indifferent attitude” towards the long-term consequences of a lack of preparation or purpose in managing public funds.
The group said that since Tinubu took office more than a year ago, Nigerians had become worse off than they were before May 29, 2023. A communiqué issued at the conclusion of Afenifere’s meeting, which was presided over by its Deputy Leader, Oladipo Olaitan, stated that the country was plagued by widespread suffering, hunger, insecurity, and vast unemployment.
“Afenifere rued some of the Tinubu administration’s profligate predilection or inclination to waste resources, viz. $100m or N240 billion as purchase price for an Airbus A330 as jet for the president and a further $50m to retrofit it.
N21 billion will be used to renovate the Vice President’s new house. N90 billion in subsidy for religious trip. It stated that N10 billion would be spent on renovating the Presidential Lodge on Ribadu Road in Lagos, among other things.
Okupe, on the other hand, stated that current economic statistics indicated that the country’s economy was beginning to revive and that a clear turnaround was now visible. He stated that Afenifere spoke effectively about the current socioeconomic issues, but its answer was delayed.
“It is commendable that Afenifere, a pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation and now political group, has always lived to its nationalistic stance.
“This it does by criticising the government of the day even though a Yoruba man, Asiwaju “This is one of the outstanding and commendable attributes of the Yoruba people as a race and Afenifere has been consistent in this patriotic display of true nationalism.
“However, while it is true that the country and its citizens are undergoing very harsh socio-economic conditions, principally because of strong and brave economic policies put in place to correct the economic quagmire brought on the country by the previous administration’s economic indicators show that the economy is beginning to make a recovery and an obvious turn around is now clearly observable,” Okupe said.
