The Presidency has hit back at the former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, accusing him of fabricating and manipulating facts in an attempt to undermine the current administration.
A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections of making wild claims on a number of issues in his latest press statement on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
Atiku had claimed there was conflict of interest in the award of the construction of the road to Hitech Construction Company Ltd.
He accused President Tinubu of prioritising his business interests and those of his family above the country’s wellbeing, because, according to him, Seyi Tinubu is a director on the board of CDK Integrated Industries, a subsidiary of the Chagoury Group, parent company of Hitech Construction Company Ltd.
“It has become obvious even to the undiscerning that the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is being done in a hurry purely because of the business relationship between Tinubu and Gilbert Chagoury, the owner of Hitech, the contractor that was awarded the contract for the highway project in contravention of the procurement laws,” he noted.
In its reaction, the Presidency faulted Atiku saying contrary to his claim, the Tinubu administration, within its first year, had attracted over $20 billion into the economy.
The statement added that the administration of President Tinubu believes that “all true and patriotic Nigerians, irrespective of political differences, should strive to advance the nation’s unity and economic prosperity rather than undermine government’s sincere attempts to attract both domestic and foreign investment”.
Onanuga stated: “While President Tinubu was in New Delhi, India for the G20 Summit last August, Indian business leaders committed over $14 billion in new investments. A substantial part of this sum is already in the country.
“In an unmistakable vote of confidence in the economic reforms being executed by the Tinubu administration, foreign investment in Nigeria’s stock market has ballooned, from N18.12 billion in Q1 2023 to N93.37 billion in Q1 2024, an increase of 415 percent.
“The last time Nigeria saw such level of investment was in the first quarter of 2019, when N97.6 billion was invested.
“The market, since Tinubu came to power, has broken records and created more wealth for the investors.
“During President Tinubu’s recent trip to The Netherlands, the Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, announced a fresh $250 million investment by Dutch businesses in Nigeria.
“Different sectors of the economy, especially telecoms, manufacturing, solid minerals, oil and gas, e-commerce, and fintech, are attracting new Foreign Direct Investments from discerning investors, who know Nigeria is a good market for bountiful returns.
“We found it strange that Alhaji Atiku could accuse President Tinubu of conflict of interest in the award of Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway to Hitech Construction Company, which he claimed is owned by Chagoury family because the president’s son, Seyi Tinubu, sits on the board of CDK, a tiles manufacturing company, based in Sagamu, Ogun State.
“Nigerians should, by now, be well accustomed to Atiku’s hypocrisy on many national issues.
“Is it not amusing that the former Vice-President, a man who openly said he formed Intels Nigeria with an Italian businessman when he was serving in the Nigeria Customs Service, a clear breach of extant public service regulations, is now the one accusing someone else of conflict of interest?
“When he was Vice-President of Nigeria between 1999-2007, he maintained his business links with Intels that won major port concession deals.
“Was this not an abuse of office, a flagrant violation of his oath, that a company where he was a co-owner won major government contracts and concessions when he was Vice-President?
“As Chairman of the National Council on Privatisation, he approved sales of over 145 state-owned enterprises to his known friends and associates and openly said during his failed campaign for the presidency last year that he would do the same, if elected.
“If not blinded by political ill-will, Alhaji Atiku knows that the right thing for him to do is to applaud President Tinubu for the ambitious and audacious Lagos-Calabar Highway, which was authorised by the Federal Executive Council.
“It is important to remind Alhaji Atiku that infrastructural projects, such as the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway are used to galvanise the economy.
“In the US, President Joe Biden has used his $2 trillion bi-partisan infrastructure deal to revamp decaying American infrastructure and inject life into the US economy.
“How can an elder statesman be waging a campaign of calumny against the economic fortunes and prosperity of a country he wishes to govern or trying to scuttle a project that will bring prosperity to nine coastal states and the nation in general?
“That Nigeria’s economy is being reclassified by the IMF as the fourth largest in Africa is stale news.
“This happened because of the devaluation of the Naira and President Tinubu’s determined effort to set the economy on the path of sustainable growth. Under the progressive, bold, inventive, and innovative leadership of President Tinubu, Nigeria will bounce back to where it rightfully belongs as Africa’s largest market and biggest economy.
“The Tinubu administration targets a $1 trillion economy in the next few years, with audacious economic programmes and critical infrastructure projects in key sectors.
“With revenue rising in trillions and the creation of the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Fund, which is poised to raise over N20 trillion this year alone, we have no doubt that the $1 trillion economy is realisable”.
