Segun Atanda/
A fierce political and economic debate has erupted following a blistering attack on former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, with the Transformative Governance Forum (TGF) accusing him of presiding over what it described as “the greatest economic crime in Nigeria’s post-independence history.”
In a statement issued today, the group condemned Atiku’s recent remarks criticising President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, describing them as “reckless, intellectually dishonest and patently uninformed.”
The controversy stems from Atiku’s defence of Nigeria’s privatisation programme during his tenure as Chairman of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), where he reportedly dismissed Tinubu’s criticisms and questioned the President’s understanding of economic reforms.
But the TGF fired back, insisting that Atiku’s stewardship of the privatisation exercise left behind “a graveyard of collapsed national assets, mass unemployment, and stalled industrialisation.”
The group reeled out a list of major state-owned enterprises allegedly mishandled during the privatisation era, citing the Ajaokuta Steel Company, Delta Steel Company, NITEL, ALSCON, Nigeria Airways, and the Nigerian National Shipping Line as examples of strategic assets that either collapsed or remain non-functional.
According to the TGF, the privatisation of NITEL resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs and the eventual destruction of Nigeria’s telecommunications backbone, while Ajaokuta Steel, once envisioned as the bedrock of Nigeria’s industrial revolution, remains dormant decades after billions of dollars in investment.
The group also criticised reforms in the power sector, arguing that the unbundling of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) has failed to deliver stable electricity, instead deepening inefficiencies and financial losses.
Beyond operational failures, the TGF alleged that the privatisation process was riddled with corruption, claiming that several assets were sold to politically connected individuals lacking the technical and financial capacity to manage them.
It described the exercise as “a systematic transfer of public wealth into private hands,” accusing Atiku of championing a model of economic reform that prioritised elite interests over national development.
In contrast, the group expressed strong support for President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, highlighting initiatives such as student loans, consumer credit schemes, and infrastructure development as evidence of a “people-centred economic philosophy.”
The statement argued that Tinubu’s reforms represent a departure from what it called the “predatory economic model” of the past, positioning the current administration as focused on job creation, industrial revival, and social protection.
The TGF concluded with a direct demand for accountability, urging Atiku to “offer a full accounting” of the privatisation programme and apologise to Nigerians for its long-term consequences.
It maintained that attempts to defend the policy or rewrite its legacy would not erase what it described as decades of economic damage.
The development underscores deepening political tensions between key figures in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, particularly as debates over economic reforms and governance records intensify ahead of future electoral contests.
With both camps digging in, the privatisation legacy, once hailed as a pathway to efficiency, has again returned to the centre of national discourse, raising fundamental questions about accountability, economic direction, and the long-term consequences of policy decisions.
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