Vacation: Return home, citizens confused about your policies, CSOs urge Tinubu

FG not travel agency, Atiku’s aide tackles Presidency
The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room has demanded the immediate return of President Bola Tinubu to the country to dialogue with citizens on its policy direction and to fulfil his promises to implement interventions that will fix the country.

Still on the President’s vacation abroad, Special Assistant on Public Communication to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Phrank Shaibu, has said the Federal Government is not a travel agency.

Convener of the CSOs, YunusaYa’u, who made this demand yesterday, in Abuja, said Nigerians were confused as to the actual state of things with crude oil production and contracts as well as prices of Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS).

He noted that the body was seriously concerned about the deteriorating living conditions in the country and the general state of affairs.

According to Ya’u, Nigeria is getting worse off by the policies of the Federal Government and the position of the Presidency on several issues, adding: “It is a big concern that the government appears not bordered about the consequences of its policies on the ordinary citizens.”

He noted the body’s worry that if urgent remedial actions were not taken by the government, the situation could lead to further despair among citizens and disorder in the society.

“The country’s economy is in bad shape and facing a galloping inflation problem, occasioned by poorly thought-out policies, such as the simultaneous deregulation of the oil sector and the foreign exchange, and failure to implement pledged remedial actions by the government.”

TINUBU had announced a two-week vacation when he travelled to the United Kingdom recently, a decision that generated heated controversy about his abandoning the country in a time of all-round economic turmoil.

However, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, stated that his principal should not be disturbed from enjoying his “private time.”

Onanuga said, “President Tinubu is on leave for two weeks. He is not restricted to the UK. It is his private time. He can go anywhere he so desires. He is still observing his leave”.

However, Shaibu, in a post on his X handle, lampooned Onanuga, describing his comments as insensitive considering the present economic situation in the county.

“Onanuga needs help,” Shaibu remarks in his response to the Presidency’s statement signed by Onanuga.

He added: “The President is on vacation and can jet off to wherever his heart desires, because, apparently, leadership is like a Netflix subscription, which you can pause whenever you please.

“While Nigerians grapple with fuel price hikes, inflation, insecurity and a crumbling economy, we’re told not to worry because it’s his private time…this Onanuga of a ‘boy’ needs help.”

He said Onanuga telling Nigerians that his principal could “go anywhere” reeks of indifference as if the citizens’ are nothing but some inconsequential afterthought.