The former Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, said it would be unfair for him to criticize President Bola Tinubu over the economic difficulties the Nigerian country is experiencing.
Mr. Sanusi, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)Speaking during a virtual religious event on Sunday, he said Nigerians who expected him to speak out about economic hardships deliberately wanted him to oppose the president.
He explained that he had to deviate from the religious theme of the event to remind Nigerians of his stances on the mismanaged economic policies of the previous Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Former President Muhammadu Buhari
He said the Buhari administration ignored his advice on how to get Nigeria out of its economic troubles.
Sanusi said that economists with a good sense of reasoning know that the current administration has taken the right decision (elimination of fuel subsidy) to save Nigeria from debt slavery accumulated by the previous administration.
“Over the years, I have been told about the pending crisis before the current economic difficulties. Any economist who has studied monetary policy in the last eight years knows that Nigerians will fall into this predicament.
“The difficult situation Nigerians are facing is only the beginning (if the right decision is not made) because Nigeria is not exceptional; Similar situations occurred in Germany, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Venezuela.
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“The previous administration has been adamant about our call for corrective measures (on economic policy). I have said in the presence of the current president in Kaduna state that any politician who tells you things will be easy don’t vote for him because he is lying. People just dismissed my ad as a political statement.
“If I want to be fair to President Bola Tinubu, he is not to blame for the current difficulties; For eight years we lived with a false lifestyle, with huge external and internal debts. The Central Bank of Nigeria owes more than 30 trillion naira, causing debt service to exceed 100 percent.
President Bola Tinubu [PHOTO: PRESIDENCY]“I cannot join other Nigerians in criticizing Tinubu for the current economic hardship, and I am not saying I am a saint free from wrongdoing, but in this current economic situation, President Tinubu is not to be blamed. I will also speak up if I see any wrong economic policy of the Tinubu administration in the article.
“It is unfair for someone to blame the Tinubu administration for the current economic difficulties because there is no alternative but to remove the fuel subsidy. After all, Nigeria can’t even afford to pay the subsidy.
“(In the last eight years), the Central Bank keeps printing more money and the Naira keeps depreciating. There is too much naira in circulation because the CBN is printing currency without restrictions.
“The economy was mismanaged and they are not willing to take advice; in the last eight years, apart from flattery, nothing has been done; those sycophants are the ones who buy the dollar at a price of 400 naira and sell it at a price of 600 to 700 naira.
“A guy with no service record has a private jet and owns houses in Dubai and England just because he buys dollars at such a low price and sells them,” Mr Sanusi said.
He said that everything in Nigeria in the last eight years has been done on debt, lamenting that no country will survive with such an economic policy.
“I can only plead with people to bear hardship, and those who have the means to help the downtrodden should do so.
“I also plead with the commoners to live according to their income; We must not put our lives above our income in this difficult situation where people are looking for what to eat, said the former Kano Emir.