The Makinde-Daura Presidential Campaign Organisation (MDPCO) has blamed the decline in the value of the naira on President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies, arguing that he should accept responsibility rather than seek praise from Nigerians over what it called the ‘imaginary rescue’ of the currency.
MDPCO is the presidential campaign organisation of the presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Mr Seyi Makinde.
In a statement by its Director of Strategic Communications, Mr Richard Ihediwa, on Sunday, the organisation described the President’s claim that Nigerians would have needed wheelbarrows to purchase ordinary food items without his intervention as a failure to portray today’s economic realities.
It said, “Mr President, you cannot preside over the destruction of the purchasing power of our national currency and turn around to seek public applause.”
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The MDPCO recalled that Tinubu inherited an official exchange rate of approximately N461 to the dollar on May 29, 2023, but said his abrupt economic reforms, particularly the removal of the petrol subsidy and unification of foreign exchange windows, triggered a steep depreciation of the naira to nearly N2,000 to the dollar.
It argued that the consequences of the policies had been devastating, with Nigerians experiencing a decline in wages, savings and purchasing power, while the costs of food, transportation, housing and essential services had risen beyond the reach of millions.
The organisation also questioned the President’s empathy for Nigerians who had reportedly lost their lives because they could not afford essential food items and life-saving medication.
“Mr President, take responsibility rather than create an imaginary worse tragedy,” it declared.
The campaign organisation faulted Tinubu’s description of the naira exchanging at N1,340 to the dollar as “pocketable”, saying the claim was disconnected from the economic realities confronting ordinary Nigerians.
It noted that the N70,000 national minimum wage could barely purchase a bag of rice, while millions of citizens continued to struggle to afford food, medication and other basic necessities despite working harder.
The organisation added, “The real test of economic recovery is whether Nigerians can afford to live better, not simply whether the naira can exchange for more dollars now than when he plunged it into the abyss.”
The MDPCO further challenged the President’s claim of economic recovery, citing an estimated 140 million Nigerians, representing 63 per cent of the population, living in poverty, an infrastructure deficit of $2.3 trillion and public debt of N166.7 trillion.
The organisation said Nigeria needed a fundamental economic reset, pointing to Makinde’s Reset Nigeria Agenda as an alternative to the current administration’s economic policies.
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