Why Nigerians are not feeling Tinubu’s achievements — Basiru, Onanuga

National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Ajibola Basiru and Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, have raised concerns on the perceived disconnect between the average Nigerian and the genuine efforts and achievements by the present administration to touch their lives positively.

The duo expressed their frustration, separately on Friday at the venue of a one-day capacity building workshop with the theme, “Communicating Renewed Hope” for Zonal and State Publicity Secretaries of the party in Abuja.

Senator Basiru decried what he described as a sustained narrative to paint the present administration in bad light by opposition figures who deliberately spin falsehood.

According to him, “before the 2023 election, we have seen the weaponisation of falsehood as an instrument of politics in Nigeria. People will go and pick images from Somalia, images from Chad, images from where there is war, and put an address to it in Nigeria in order to create misinformation.

“We also have a situation where people who have had the opportunity of governing the sub-national, and without any achievement beyond establishment of beer factory will come and be telling us what happened in China, in Malaysia, when at their backyard, their community is ravaged with floods, and they did not put a single school building for 8 years of administration.”

He therefore challenged spokespersons of the party at the states and Zonal level to fashion out strategies on how to communicate the achievements of the APC-led administration.

“We must also focus our communication on what matters. What have we done as a government in the area of the economy? Because that’s one of the areas where they tell a lot of lies.

“Today, we have a lot of facts and figures to show that our economy is doing very well and we are getting accolades from people who ought to know.

“It is strange in Nigeria that if the International Monetary Fund, ( IMF) and World Bank gave knock to Nigeria, they would celebrate it. But when they give kudos to us, they will ignore that. So we, as a government, we must also go to the rooftop to shout what IMF and World Bank is talking about Nigeria and what all other agencies are talking about Nigeria.

“Then we must also show that contrary to the doom-based scenario of people who thought Naira would climb to 2,000 and beyond 2,000. Naira has become one of the best performing currencies in Nigeria.

“Today, you can use your Naira card to draw money on the streets of London and the streets of New York, and you can use your Naira card to make a transaction on POS. I was asking somebody at the Apple Store about an iTunes gift card, and he said you can now use Naira to be able to do that transaction.”

Onanuga in his presentation, urged the spokesmen of the party to educate Nigerians on these accomplishments.

Onanuga noted that the Renewed Hope Agenda of the administration is not just a slogan.

“We need to leverage more, especially at the grassroots, and to share to our people what this government is doing to improve the lots of Nigerians. Our Renewed Hope Agenda is not just a slogan. It is real and becoming a reality.”

The presidential spokesperson who enumerated the achievements of the administration, maintained that “under the present government, the economy is picking up and a lot of confidence had been built on the administration.”

He further declared that the Tinubu administration is reaping the desired gains as the economy is attracting investors to invest to all sectors of the economy Bukar Dalori, the acting National Chairman of the ruling party appealed to the spokesmen to preach the Renewed Hope Agenda with renewed energy.

APC National Publicity Secretary, Mr Felix Morka, equally urged participants at the seminar to continue educating Nigerians on the government’s achievements and the impact on the people.

He maintained that Nigerians are ignorant of the laudable achievements of the present administration and tasked the spokespersons of the responsibility to inform the public.

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