The presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2023 general elections, Atiku Abubakar, has advised President Bola Tinubu, on what to prioritize in 2024.
He urged Tinubu to focus on revamping the Nigerian economy, reducing the cost of goods and services, and improving security in order to deal with our existential challenges in the coming year.
Atiku said this in his New Year message to Nigerians on Sunday. He joined other Nigerians to welcome a new year with the hope that things would be better than they were in the outgoing year.
He said, “The past year was definitely a challenging year, but the lessons that we took away from it are what should prepare us for the future that the New Year holds.
“It is my belief that one of the reasons the Almighty created time and seasons is for us to take stock of our realities and effect necessary amends.
“Certainly, many families and businesses already know the intensity of the trying times that we are currently going through, though we could have taken a completely different pathway had the government been smarter with their policy prescriptions.
“The rising cost of food items, goods, and services, the malfunction in our national economy, and the degenerating state of our national and community security are all existential challenges that we have to face squarely in the New Year.
“While many companies have closed their operations in Nigeria and moved their enterprises elsewhere with clearer policies and visions, the situation of life for Nigerians keeps getting worse.
“To walk back from these throes of adversity will require a well-thought-out vision of national planning that will deliberately make the common people of Nigeria the centrepiece of our development.
“The year 2024 is still new on its canvas, and so there is ample time for the current government to champion a pathway to addressing the acute hardship that Nigerians are going through.
“The government must show a clear direction in its policy projections and desist from the subsisting behaviour of groping in the dark.
“While I congratulate all Nigerians for witnessing this New Year, I also wish to call on everyone to double our efforts to put our respective families and businesses in good shape.”
