Ex-Minister criticizes Tinubu’s claim on Naira-to-Dollar equivalent in 2023

By Adeleye Kunle

Former Minister of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development, Chief Nduese Essien, has criticized the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for claiming that if elected in 2023, he would bring the naira to parity with the dollar.

Chief Essien, a two-term member of the National Assembly, stated that such campaign talk was only’meant for the marines,’ as the APC Presidential candidate has no magic wand to turn the Naira around and make it equal in value to the US dollar.

“Tinubu made this kind of statement in 2015, when he was campaigning for Muhammadu Buhari, and seven years later, he couldn’t show the president how to appreciate the Naira, so why should anyone with knowledge of how the global economy works believe him?” he said.

“That’s how it began in 2014, leading to opposition to President Goodluck Jonathan on how the Naira will be equal to the US dollar if Buhari is elected.”

According to him, Tinubu’s claim was unrealistic, given that if elected, he would most likely follow President Muhammadu Buhari’s economic blueprint.

The People’s Democratic Party chieftain, who also chaired the National Assembly’s South-South caucus from 1999 to 2003, chastised Buhari’s administration for the abysmal depreciation of the Naira from 150 to 610 per dollar.

“Why has Tinubu failed to assist President Buhari in arresting the steady fall of the Naira against other international currencies, instead waiting until he becomes President in 2023 before miraculously intervening,” he continued.

“International currencies are not manipulated in the way Bola Tinubu secretly moved the headquarters of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited to Lagos, away from its area of operations, to the detriment of the Oil Producing Areas, and has continued to maintain its maintenance there despite all protests from the rest of the country and in accordance with international best practice.”

“Tinubu cannot be trusted because, as the leader of the All Progressive Congress, the party has broken all of its campaign promises, and he has nothing new to offer the country.”

Chief Essien, on the other hand, urged Nigerians of voting age to take advantage of the extension granted by the national umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on registration to obtain their Permanent Voter Card, PVC, in order to vote for their preferred candidates in the upcoming elections.

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