What I would have done differently to transform Nigeria – Atiku

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has revealed what he would have done differently as the president to transform Nigeria.

Amid an economic hardship faced by Nigerians due to the rise in the prices of food items caused by the removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu, Atiku revealed the steps he would have taken to move the country forward.

In a post on his official X account on Sunday, Atiku said he has been inundated with inquiries of what he would have done differently if he were at the helm of affairs of Nigeria.

“I am not the president, Tinubu is. The focus should be on him and not on me or any other. I believe that such inquiries distract from the critical questions of what President Bola Tinubu needs to do to save Nigerians from the excruciating pains arising from his trial-and-error economic policies,” he wrote.

“However, I understand and appreciate the challenges faced by citizens in seeking alternatives to what is not working for them. I hope Tinubu and members of his administration are humble enough to borrow one or two things from our ideas in the interest of the Nigerian people. I would now go ahead and articulate some of our ideas that would have had the potential to transform our beloved country.”

Atiku said in general, he would have planned better and more robustly as his journey of reforms would have benefited from more adequate preparations, more sufficient diagnostic assessment of the country’s conditions, more consultations with key stakeholders, and better ideas for the final destination.

He said his administration as the president would have been guided by his robust reform agenda as encapsulated in ‘My Covenant With Nigerians’, his policy document that sought to, among others, protect the country’s fragile economy against much deeper crisis by preventing business collapse, with his document having spelt out policies that were consistent and coherent.

“We would have sequenced my reforms to achieve fiscal and monetary congruence. Unleashing reforms to determine an appropriate exchange rate, cost-reflective electricity tariff, and PMS price at one and the same time is certainly an overkill,” he stated.

“Add CBN’s bullish money tightening spree. As importers of PMS and other petroleum products, removing subsidy on these products without a stable exchange rate would be counterproductive.”

To avert the ensuing problems currently facing the citizens, Atiku said his administration would have been more strategic in its response to reform fallout, adding that they would not over-estimate the efficacy of the reform measures or underestimate the potential costs of reforms.

He said he would have recognised that reforms could sometimes fail, as a result, he would not underestimate the numerous delivery challenges, including the weaknesses of Nigeria’s institutions, and would work assiduously to correct the same.

Atiku explained that he would, as a responsible leader, pause, reflect, and where necessary, review implementation, stating that he would have led by example.

According to him, any fiscal reform to improve liquidity and the management of the nation’s fiscal resources must first eliminate revenue leakages arising from governance, including the cost of running the government and the government procurement process.

He pointed out that he and the members of his administration would not have lived in luxury while the citizens wallow in misery, explaining that they would have communicated more effectively with the people, with civility, tact, and diplomacy.

Transparent communication with the public, according to Atiku, is essential to build public trust, which in turn is important to ensure that the public understands what the government is doing.

He added that he and the members of his team would have consulted more with all stakeholders to learn, negotiate, adapt, and modify, among other policy goals while they would have demonstrated more empathy, adding that his reforms would have worn a human face.

To make things work in Nigeria, Atiku said that he would have been more strategic in the design and implementation of reform fallout mitigating measures.

“I would not run a ‘palliative economy’ yet, we would have robust social protection programme that will offer genuine support to the poor and vulnerable and provide immediate comfort and security to enable them to navigate the stormy seas,” he said.