By Pascal Ibe
As the current president Bola Tinubu administration continues to lament over persistence economic woes inherited from ex president, Mohammad Buhari regime, it has been revealed that Bola Tinubu in 2020 asked Buhari to print more naira notes.
On Wednesday, the federal government disclosed that the policy of the immediate past administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari which resulted in free printing of Naira for eight years without corresponding production is one of the major errors responsible for the country’s current economic situation.
Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, said this in Abuja while appearing before the Senate Committee on Finance chaired by Senator Sani Musa.
Speaking on measures to revamp the economy among other issues, Edun said the current administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had done a lot, including efforts to stabilise the naira against the dollar and the implementation of a more transparent social welfare scheme for the citizenry.
According to him, free printing of the naira for eight years up to N22.7trillion by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari without a corresponding improvement in productive activities was one of the major errors of the past.
TINUBU”s ADVICE TO BUHARI IN 2020
In March 2020, then the All Progressives Congress National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu asked the Federal Government to print more naira notes to save the economy from collapse even as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to bite harder.
The APC chieftain said the United States Federal Reserve had printed more dollars bills to boost the economy.
Nigeria’s health care system cannot withstand a coronavirus pandemic on the scale of America and Europe.
He said Nigeria could also do the same.
Tinubu added, “Already, the price of oil has fallen to less than $30 a barrel. This will bring a dollar shortfall. This does not, however, necessitate a corresponding shortfall in public sector naira expenditures.
“The US controls dollar issuance. We control naira issuance as is our sovereign right. Just as America has used its sovereign right to issue its currency to stave off economic disaster, so too may Nigeria issue naira for the same purpose.”
LAMENTATIONS
The senator representing the Edo North Senatorial District, Adams Oshiomhole said last month said President Bola Tinubu inherited a terrible economic situation from the past administration.
The former All Progressives Congress Chairman also noted that some of the decisions taken by President Tinubu’s administration were the first steps towards revamping the economy.
Speaking during an interview with journalists shortly after his meeting with the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, behind closed doors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Tuesday, Oshiomole said, “The government inherited a terrible economic situation, everybody knows it. The government inherited an economy in which the total national revenue was barely enough to service our debt burden. Spending 96 per cent; which is to say every one hundred naira Nigeria earns, ninety-six kobo is to pay debt”
Also, former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, said President Bola Tinubu inherited inherited a “dead economy” from the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.
According to him, President Tinubu’s effort to solve Nigeria’s socio-economic challenges is commendable despite that he inherited a “dead economy.”
Fayose slammed Buhari for “taking Nigeria backwards,” urging President Tinubu to do more and solve the country’s issues.
He said, “Considering what Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the President of Nigeria inherited and our diversity, put all these together, the gentleman is trying.
