After excoriating President Bola Tinubu for exacerbating the hardship then-President Muhammadu Buhari plunged Nigerians into, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has listed six things the incumbent president must do to salvage the situation.

In a statement on Wednesday, Mr Abubakar listed security, review of the budget and Social Investment Programme (SIP) among the things Mr Tinubu must address. 

“First, pause and reflect. It is important that the government understands what reforms must be undertaken and in what sequence. A framework is needed with clearly stated reform objectives and strategies,” Mr Atiku advised.

“Second, undertake a comprehensive review of the 2024 budget within the new reform framework. The 2024 FGN Budget, the exact size of which remains a mystery, is not designed to address the structural defects of the Nigerian economy or the cost-of-living crisis. It will neither create prosperity nor promote opportunities for our young people to lead a productive life. 

“The review must prioritise fiscal measures to deal with an unprecedented rise in commodity prices. Higher commodity prices have created more misery for the poor in our towns and villages and have pushed millions of people below the poverty line. One of such measures for immediate implementation will be to ease the existing restrictions on selected food imports,” the PDP chieftain added.

“Third, undertake a comprehensive review of the Social Investment Programme (SIP) to mitigate some of the impact of these policies on the most vulnerable households. The SIP must go beyond Conditional Cash Transfers to include programmes that prioritise support to MSEs across all the economic sectors, as they offer the greatest opportunities for achieving inclusive growth,” Mr Abubakar stressed. “In addition, a holistic programme to support medium and large-scale enterprises to navigate the stormy seas in the aftermath of the withdrawal of subsidy on PMS is also needed.”

The former vice-president then asked Mr Tinubu to tread cautiously on the tax issue.

“Fourth, Tinubu must be cautioned against any attempt to further pauperise the poor by introducing new taxes or increasing tax rates. We are aware of the behind-the-scenes attempts to increase VAT rate from 7.5% to 10%, re-introduce excise on telecommunication, and increase excise rates on a range of goods. It needs to be restated that we cannot tax our way out of this situation,” Mr Abubakar explained. “Instead, Tinubu must see the need for expenditure rationalisation and restraint – by having the budget more in sync with Nigeria’s fiscal reality, by improving efficiency in revenue utilization, improving procurement processes and trimming the size of government – and therefore reducing the cost of governance.” 

Another point considered was the fuel subsidy regime.

“Fifth, provide clarity on the fuel subsidy regime, including the fiscal commitments and benefits from the fuel subsidy reform and the impact of this on the Federation Accounts,” Mr Abubakar stated. “It is curious that since April 2024, fuel queues had mounted at many filling stations across Nigeria, and the infamous ‘black market’ has sprouted in several states. How much PMS is being imported and distributed, and at what cost? What is the implicit subsidy?”

“Sixth, tackle security headlong. President Tinubu, as a matter of priority, needs to rejig the nation’s security architecture as what is currently in place is not serving the needs of the people. The state of pervasive insecurity continues to adversely impact agricultural production and the value it brings to the economy, especially in the Northern parts of the country,” he pointed out.

He noted that insecurity resulting from terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, and cattle rustling “has compelled many crop farmers and pastoralists to abandon their lands and relocate” to the neighbouring countries of Niger, Chad, and Cameroon.

“This has drastically caused a reduction in the production of food and skyrocketed prices of foodstuffs. Food scarcity in Nigeria is so dire that a report by Cadre Harmonise warns that between June and August this year, about 31.5 million Nigerians may face severe food shortages and scarcity,” said the politician.