Despite a significant increase in crude oil production and favorable global oil prices, Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), on Friday, lamented that the windfall has not translated into any tangible benefits for the average Nigerian or the nation as a whole.

The group called on President Tinubu to overhaul his economic team and appoint competent professionals who can devise and implement effective economic strategies to salvage the nation’s economy.

The National Coordinator of the group, Comrade Jamilu Aliyu Charanchi, disclosed this in Abuja, during a press briefing, he said that the President Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s economic team is the worst since Nigeria’s return to civil rule in 1999.

According to the group, “Nigeria’s oil production rose from 1.18 million barrels per day (mbpd) to 1.28 mbpd, while global oil prices surged to $82.57 per barrel, exceeding the earlier benchmark of $76.97.

“However, the increased revenue has failed to trickle down to the citizens, with no noticeable improvement in their standard of living or the nation’s economic development.”

He noted that in this dire situation, instead of providing relief, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) announced an increase in interest rates, which will further devastate the economy and diminish prospects for job creation.

It said empirical data from the NBS and others reveal that over the past year, key economic indices have worsened with no definitive and evidence-based solutions in sight.

Charanchi said: “The outcome of the MPC economic policies is a clear manifestation that President Tinubu’s economic team is the worst since Nigeria’s return to civil rule in 1999. The team lacks coordination, focus, foresight, and a clear understanding of the workings of the Nigerian economy.

“The anti-people policies of the government only enabled the few elites to primitively acquire wealth, while the vast majority of citizens continue to languish in deep poverty.”

He noted that in responding to the current hardship facing Nigerians, the government appears to be adopting a trial-and-error approach to the economy, resulting in further deterioration and further exposing people to avoidable hardship.

He added, “The anti-people policies of the government only enabled the few elites to primitively acquire wealth, while the vast majority of citizens continue to languish in deep poverty. To compound the situation, the government has increased the interest rate from 18.5% to around 30%, a 62% rise.

“The CNG shares stakeholders’ concerns that higher interest rates will not only reduce investments and economic growth but also aggravate the daunting challenges inundating the business environment, leading to factory closures, job losses, and reduced economic activities.”

He explained that Tinubu’s economic advisers have demonstrated a lack of understanding of our economic realities, perpetuating harmful policies that are disastrous for the country and squandering the president’s political capital.

While appreciating the federal government’s intention to pay a decent living wage to Nigerian workers, he said “We are skeptical of the federal government’s plan to further increase the fuel price in order to fund the new national minimum wage.

“We reject this plan and urge the government to explore humane and innovative alternatives such as reducing wasteful expenditure and the high cost of governance, tackling corruption, and increasing taxes on luxury goods to fund the minimum wage. Any wage increase that hikes the fuel price is self-defeating.”

He said 740 trucks loaded with rice, amounting to 880,020 bags of rice, will be distributed nationwide to cushion the hardship. However, these token measures are clearly and totally inadequate to tackle the problems of mass hunger affecting millions of Nigerians.