Social Democratic Party (SDP) Presidential flagbearer in the 2023 election, Prince Adewole Adebayo, has carpeted former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar for recommending the Argentina economic model for Nigeria, saying the country’s inflation, at 512%, is one of the highest in the world.
Atiku had advised President Bola Tinubu to take a lesson from the President of Argentina, Javier Milei, on how he turned around the economy of his country, but Adebayo said Atiku’s view was well intentioned but misinformed.
The presidential candidate told Journalists in Abuja that, “It is an error. If you look at the situation in Argentina, we may get to that position, I hope we are not, but we are travelling in that direction, but they are ahead of us in terms of misery. They have one month of 512% of inflation. I don’t know if economists can understand the temperature of 512%. They have lost virtually all their wealth. The person there now is from the Austrian school of thought.
“The Argentines are complaining every day as they have had the worst economic performance since 1980. I am not saying we should not criticise a non performance government of President Tinubu of APC, but you do not say somebody complaining of too much sun should be put in the oven, that’s not the way to solve the problem”, he stated.
Adebayo said vice president Atiku Abubakar and former Governor peter obi would not have done anything different from what Tinubu is presently doing, but rather worse, if they were elected and implemented the same policies. ” These policies are not working. Unfortunately, Nigerians have voted these policies. They voted for these policies either because they didn’t pay attention or they didn’t understand the implications of these policies.
“When you decide to say you vote for a government that says it will remove subsidy from day one, which was what president Tinubu said, which was what Vice President Atiku Abubakar, which was what governor Peter Obi said, and we said don’t listen to them, but people thought they have experience and they are more realistic than us.
“So, any of them that formed the government and adopted any of these policies will have, at the minimum, what we are experiencing now or even worse.
“These policies are not good, not because of the parties announcing them but because structurally they are not suitable to us.”
On whether Tinubu has what it takes to fix Nigeria, Adebayo said anybody elected who is determined to work can fix Nigeria, including President Tinubu. ” I have the feeling that anybody who is determined to fix Nigeria and who wants to listen to Nigerians and carry everybody along and look for the best talent and not just political party alone, we will do well.
“I would have preferred Nigerians voted for me, which was I didn’t support him. I think I would have done better than him. But anybody who is put there and who is determined to use all the resources in Nigeria can succeed. Of course, the president is a Nigerian, well-educated person, quite intelligent, but has wrong policies. He needs to open his mind and get ideas from other people.”
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