The President of the Trade Union Congress, Festus Osifo, has voiced concerns about the optimistic tone in President Bola Tinubu’s New Year speech, suggesting that it doesn’t align with Nigeria’s current economic realities.
Osifo made this remark during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today program on Wednesday.
In his speech, President Tinubu outlined ambitious goals, such as reducing inflation, stabilising the naira, and promoting economic growth.
His proposed strategies include boosting local food production, increasing the manufacturing of essential medicines, and improving credit access through the establishment of the National Credit Guarantee Company.
However, Osifo slammed the optimism presented in the speech, arguing that while the president aims to inspire hope, the current economic situation doesn’t reflect the feasibility of such aspirations.
He pointed out that the challenges Nigeria faces, including inflation, exchange rate issues, and economic difficulties, are partly a result of the government’s policies.
Osifo specifically highlighted the rising exchange rate, which has reached about 1,600 naira to the dollar in the parallel market, and the high inflation rate, questioning the practical steps in place to achieve the ambitious targets laid out by the president.
“The president of a country is the chief salesman of a country, his own primary responsibility is to lay out the message that he has laid out,” Osifo said.
“To paint a very bright picture, to paint a picture of a lot of goodies that could come in 2025. So he has done what any president in the world could do. So generally, from listening to the statement and reading through it over and over again, we could see that a lot of things were painted with optimism.
“So in reality, what the president has said is trying to inspire hope, but that hope that he’s trying to inspire, is not really in tandem with what we have currently in our economy.”
He also expressed skepticism about the credibility of the government’s projections, like the expected reduction in inflation to 15 per cent by 2025 and the anticipated increase in crude oil production.
According to Osifo, while the president’s speech offers hope, there is a lack of clear actions or tangible plans to back up these promises.
“Nigerians, Nigerians know clearly that a lot of these policies have brought about challenges, and have brought about difficulties that we are facing today.
“Today our exchange rate is about 1,600, depending on the parallel market or The Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Fixing, It is also these policies that have also brought about the inflation that we have today.
“We’ve been told, for example, that inflation is going to come down to 15 per cent by 2025.
“For example, our crude oil production is going to rise to about 2.06 million barrels per day. As well, that the balance of payments, we’ve been told how much we are going to borrow to finance our budget. So all these that the president has said, we have taken the brighter ones.
“When you now analyze them, what are the parameters that have been put in place? What are those details that have been put in place that we can see that truly it is not just talkism, that truly what the president is saying, there are actions to match them.”
