NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
The Presidency has faulted the position of former vice president Atiku Abubakar who suggested that rather than use his last meeting with state governors to find solutions to the fluctuating foreign exchange and poverty in the country President Bola Tinubu was more interested in shutting down critics for allegedly distracting him.
In a response to Atiku”s statement issued on Sunday, the Special Adviser to the president on information and strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said it was not correct to say that the meeting was about foreign exchange.
The statement asserted that Atiku muddled up things in an attempt to rubbish the foreign exchange policy of the Tinubu administration.
According to the presidential aide, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election also failed to prescribe a better policy option to what the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso and his team are executing at the apex bank.
The statement said: “First of all, it was not true that President Tinubu’s meeting last Thursday with the 36 State Governors was centred on discussing foreign exchange crisis and currency fluctuation.
“What was discussed in the main was food supply and how to drastically reduce the food prices. The Minister of Information, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, gave a briefing about the meeting, revealing the highlights to State House Correspondents.
“One was that the meeting established a nexus between the state of security and the rising cost of food. Another was that hoarders are warehousing food, creating artificial scarcity and thus enabling the high cost of food items.
“The decisions at the meeting reflected the main points discussed: Forest rangers are to be strengthened and armed, while police are to recruit more men and the National Economic Council to deepen discussions about creating state police.
“President Tinubu also affirmed his approval for the release of 42,000 Metric tonnes of grains from the national reserve. The government is also in discussion with rice millers to get another 60,000 metric tonnes. President Tinubu said he does not support price control and importation of food. Nigeria, he believes, can grow enough food to feed its citizens and spare some for export.
“The present government is executing the cultivation of 500,000 hectares for wheat, maize, and rice, in many states. Governors are expected to participate in this programme, one of the reasons for last Thursday’s meeting.
