Former Lagos State Labour Party gubernatorial candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, has criticised the state of Nigeria’s economy under the All Progressives Congress (APC), describing the leadership as an “epic failure.”
Speaking in an interview with News Central TV, Rhodes-Vivour lamented the dramatic depreciation of the Naira, saying the ruling party had wasted the goodwill of Nigerians.
“If I come in here and I destroy this entire studio, right? And then three months later, I come and put these tables back. And I’m telling you, look, I’ve put these tables back. You guys are supposed to clap for me and celebrate me,” he said, likening the government’s economic claims to a façade.
He recalled how previous administrations were heavily criticised for far smaller currency devaluations. “These people met the dollar at N700. Buhari met the dollar at N160, N200. I look back at Facebook posts and tweets where we were so angry that the dollar had gotten to N200. We were so angry, like, this man must go. These leaders must go. You find a situation where the current leadership of the APC, they were calling protests, occupying Nigeria for N200,” he said.
Comparing Nigeria’s past and present, he added, “It just sounds like a joke to me right now. Because I remember under the PDP, I was changing 4,000 pounds for a million naira. Now you can barely get 500 pounds for a million naira now, right? So it’s an epic failure. These people came in on the goodwill of Nigerians that were going to make Nigeria better, not plunge it into chaos. And I expect us to clap for them that now the dollar is N1,500 from a high of N1,900. And we should be happy that this is a new normal.”
Rhodes-Vivour also questioned the government’s handling of subsidy removal. “OK, you’ve removed subsidies. How are you using that money to benefit the people? How are their lives? What is your vision for Nigerians? What’s your bigger vision?” he asked.
He stressed that the country’s challenges stem from leadership without foresight. “The report earlier on was showing what’s happening in Kogi in terms of the Lugard Centre and all of that. In a country with people that have vision, that will not happen,” Rhodes-Vivour argued.
