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Nigerian major Think Tank
The Tinubu Media Support Group (TMSG), has brushed aside recent criticism of President Bola Tinubu’s policies by former Kano State governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, describing it as uninformed and mischievous.
TMSG countered the notion by the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) leader that insecurity was rising and infrastructures were in a state of decay adding that he was capitally wrong that little or no effort was being made to renew the infrastructures.
In a statement by its Chairman Emeka Nwankpa and Secretary Dapo Okubanjo, TMSG accused Kwankwaso of deliberate falsehood and playing petty politics at a time when Tinubu’s reforms are yielding fruitful dividends.
“We have gone through the recent comments by the former Kano State governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso at the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of his fractured NNPP and realized that they are not different from his usual unnecessarily vituperations on the Tinubu administration even when there is constant improvement on infrastructures.
“Like many Nigerians, we can still recall how the Kwakwaso erroneously claimed a few months ago at a public debate that the Tax reform bills were a ploy to colonize Kano and Northern Nigeria.
“Kwankwaso was on record to have in his words said, ‘Lagos young men are working hard to impose taxes and take away our taxes from Kano to Lagos. Even telephones registered in Kano are taxed in Lagos’.
“It took several voices of reason including prominent Kano politicians like Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin and Rep. Ado Doguwa to weigh in and call him to order.
“Now, he has doubled down claiming that insecurity and poverty are rising and infrastructure development declining. We wonder how low a former Defence minister and a two-term governor could go, for instance, in making light of the good job of our gallant armed forces men.
“We wonder how he is not aware of the giant strides of our security agencies curbing banditry and general insecurity in the North West with the decimation of notorious bandit commanders such as Halilu Sububu and Kachallah Na Faranshi who, for years, had Zamfara and adjoining states in a stranglehold.
” It is also a fact that Jos and Southern Kaduna as well as the North East have enjoyed relative peace in the last 20 months. It is therefore preposterous of Kwankwaso to claim that insecurity is rising at a time our armed forces are delivering on their mandate by working in synergy with other security agencies.”
TMSG also provided insights into what the Tinubu administration had been doing well in several sectors in recent months.
“As for the economy, the Tinubu administration has been transitioning it from the doldrums of the past to a more active, market-driven and inclusive economy which Nigerians are appreciating more and more by the day.
“The latest 3.46% year-on-year growth in GDP indicates that Nigeria is fast recovering from the unintended effects of the reforms. The naira has been stable for several months while the debt service ratio has dropped from 97 per cent to 68 per cent.
“We make bold to say that it is because of the financial re-engineering by the administration that the only state that Kwankwaso’s party controls has more funds at its disposal even though Kano residents cannot see how additional federal allocation has translated to improved development indices.
“At the national level, the improved financial situation has given rise to programmes like student loans for indigent students across the country through NELFUND, Consumer Credit Scheme targeted at scaling up local production while also improving consumption through credit and an NIN-backed social welfare system.
“There is also a tax reform which is targeted at reducing the tax burden of small businesses and low-income earners while increasing taxes on the rich Nigerians
“On infrastructure, the Tinubu administration has a Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund (RHID) put in place to bridge the nation’s infrastructure gap. In this year alone, there is a historic budgetary allocation of N23 trillion to projects which underscores the government’s commitment to infrastructure development and renewal,” it added.
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