Phrank Shaibu, Atiku Abubakar’s Special Assistant on Public Communications, has criticized President Bola Tinubu’s proposal to distribute N8,000 to 12 million households for six months, describing it as a blatant attempt to divert public funds. In a statement, Shaibu drew parallels between Tinubu’s plan and former President Muhammadu Buhari’s conditional cash transfer and COVID-19 intervention initiatives, which resulted in politicians hoarding food items while the poor suffered. Shaibu argued that such intervention programs only worsened the economic situation, as evidenced by reports from the National Bureau of Statistics.
Regarding Tinubu’s proposal, Shaibu stated that after haphazardly removing petrol subsidies, Tinubu now seeks approval for an $800 million loan, claiming it will be disbursed to 12 million households at N8,000 per month. Shaibu criticized this plan as another scam by the All Progressives Congress (APC), stating that each individual in a household would receive a meager N1,600 per month or N53 per day, insufficient for even basic necessities. He questioned Tinubu’s economic credentials and argued that his only focus was taxing Nigerians, as evident from his time as governor of Lagos. Shaibu contended that Tinubu’s promises of economic transformation were nothing more than a scam and called his economic policies “agberonomics.”
According to Shaibu, Tinubu should have prioritized investing in agriculture, subsidizing production, and working towards energy security to stimulate economic growth, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Shaibu criticized Tinubu’s lack of solutions for addressing insecurity, especially in rural agrarian areas where over 200 people have been killed under Tinubu’s watch.
Shaibu further accused Tinubu’s proposed palliative plan of being another means to divert public funds, likening it to the controversial Trader Moni initiative used for political campaigns and vote-buying. He pointed out that the Nigerian government has consistently refused to publish the list of beneficiaries, implying corruption. Shaibu argued that the APC, a party that has fallen out of favor with the majority of Nigerians, introduced vote-buying into the political landscape through schemes like Trader Moni, which was marred by corruption and fraud.
It is worth noting that these statements reflect the perspective and opinion of Phrank Shaibu, Atiku Abubakar’s Special Assistant on Public Communications.
