Chuks Okocha in Abuja
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has condemned the Minister of Finance, Taiwo Oyedele, over what it described as a misplaced fixation on President Bola Tinubu’s second-term prospects while Nigerians endured crushing poverty, soaring petrol prices and an escalating cost-of-living crisis.
HURIWA, in a statement by its national coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, said Oyedele should stop acting like a political promoter for the president and concentrate on the economic responsibilities for which he was appointed.
The association observed that Nigerians needed urgent answers to their economic problems, not assurances about what international investors supposedly think of Tinubu’s chances in the 2027 election.
HURIWA maintained that the minister’s suggestion that markets and the international community were already pricing in a Tinubu second term was, at best, his own assessment and could not be presented as a verdict on Nigeria’s political future.
Onwubiko said the power to elect the country’s next president belonged to Nigerians, not foreign investors, global financial institutions or powerful boardroom interests.
The association further said it was disturbing that a senior economic official would use an international economic gathering to project the President’s re-election prospects when he should be explaining how the government intended to arrest worsening hardship, revive productive sectors, create jobs and restore the purchasing power of ordinary citizens.
HURIWA observed that the Nigerian economy could not be defended with political projections while citizens were being battered by the consequences of policies they can barely survive.
The association, therefore, challenged Oyedele to explain how the administration intended to make life bearable for workers whose wages have been overwhelmed by the cost of food, transportation, electricity and other essential needs.
HURIWA added that the government must confront legitimate concerns about its growing reliance on borrowing.
It observed that reports of increased revenue collections by government agencies should provoke questions about expenditure priorities, fiscal discipline and why borrowing remains a recurring feature of public finance.