President Bola Tinubu has said the naira would have become so worthless that it would be carried about in wheelbarrows, were it not for his economic policies, which he says pulled Nigeria back from the brink of financial collapse.
Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, made the remark during a visit to Akwa Ibom State. There, he urged voters to support his administration and Governor Umo Eno.
He described the January 16, 2027 election as consequential, saying it would determine the direction of the country.
Defending his economic policies, Tinubu said his administration had moved Nigeria away from the brink of financial collapse.
According to him, “This coming election, on January 16th is a consequential election. It will define the direction of this country.
“When I took over, 27 governors out of 36 of this country were unable to pay salary, not to talk of pension, and gratuity. Today, I can say that we are out of that tunnel.
“And I can beat my chest to say we are out of the despair, the dark tunnel of uncertainty and the calamity of a possible bankruptcy.
“By now if we didn’t take over, if we didn’t do what we did, we will be using the wheelbarrows to move our naira about because it will have become valueless.
“We are talking of 1,300 now to a dollar because it still has pocketable value. If we had left it, it would have been a wheelbarrow when you go to the market to buy tomatoes. That is the truth.”
The President also urged the electorate, particularly young people, to obtain their Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs. He described the card as their most potent instrument for determining the country’s political future.
At a reception held in his honour at the Ibom Palm Resort, Tinubu praised Governor Eno. He described the resort as evidence of purposeful leadership and of the possibility of reclaiming environmentally degraded land for productive use.
“We are standing on a resort to the glory of God. It is a product of 73 acres of land of gully erosion, reclaimed, surrounded with a good, romantic, artificial lake, demonstrating a serious vision that is achievable when honest people are working for their homes,” he said.
