Once again, Professor Ango Abdullahi, a renowned educator and former vice chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, and spokesperson for the Northern Elders Forum, has offered his honest assessment of Nigeria’s economic state. Professor Abdullahi, who is renowned for his direct thoughts, discussed the economic difficulties the country is currently facing under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s leadership in a recent article published by The Sun. CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>
In the report, Professor Abdullahi expressed empathy for President Tinubu, whom he considers a friend, acknowledging the difficulties the president is currently navigating in steering the nation through these economic uncertainties. Abdullahi emphasized that the economic predicament Nigeria faces is one that predates the current administration, attributing it to the legacy left by past administrations. According to his analysis, rather than improving, the economic situation appears to have worsened over time, creating additional burdens for the present leadership.
In his own words as seen in The Sun this morning…
“Tinubu is my friend. Unfortunately, he, by his own words, said he is going to carry on with Buhari’s administration which was declared a failed administration as far as we are concerned by some of us and we didn’t hide this. We made it public. From every sensible social economic analysis, people agreed that the country was in difficulties. Socio economic indices were negative and so on. Nigeria does not produce much. See our foreign exchange. When I was Vice Chancellor of ABU, it was one dollar to 80 kobo. This is just about 40 years ago. Currencies in good countries don’t change in years but 40 years and I used to buy a dollar for 75 or 80 kobo. But today, if I want to, I have to spend N1300 to get one dollar. What happened is simply that Nigeria is not a producer. And if you don’t produce, you can’t sell anything and can’t earn foreign exchange and that won’t leave you with a respectable foreign exchange. And people who see things will determine how much you have to pay for their products and that is what happened to Nigeria. We buy everything and we produce nothing.”
“I don’t even want to use these figures because it is so shameful that today that to buy one dollar you have to go and seek N1300. So I feel sorry for my friend, Bola Tinubu. We met once at the airport before the election but since he took off I have not seen him personally. But I have sent a direct message through a mutual friend. I wish he can set up a team that is seriously objective. Forget about these sentiments about constitution and so on and so forth. For me, I feel that Nigeria has to go back to the drawing board and start afresh.” CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>
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