Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has accused the President Bola Tinubu administration of driving Nigerian businesses into deeper financial distress while foreign investors increasingly withdraw their funds from the country.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, made the allegations in a statement issued on Tuesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu.
The former vice-president based his claim partly on data from the Nigerian Exchange, which showed that foreign investors brought N513.36bn into the Nigerian equities market between January and July 2026 but withdrew N779.43bn during the same period.
The figures, according to Atiku, translated to a net capital outflow of N266.07bn.
He said foreign investors recorded net outflows in every month within the seven-month period, adding that the 2026 figure was about 11.7 times higher than the N22.68bn net outflow recorded during the corresponding period in 2023.
“This is not merely an investment statistic. It is a confidence verdict on the Tinubu economy,” Atiku said.
The ADC presidential candidate linked the capital flight to what he described as an increasingly difficult economic environment for businesses and households.
He also criticised the Federal Government’s borrowing pattern, claiming that domestic borrowing had risen by 90.5 per cent to N24.7tn in eight months.
According to him, government credit has expanded at a rate more than four times that of credit to the private sector.
Atiku argued that the development was squeezing businesses out of the credit market and making it more difficult for entrepreneurs and manufacturers to obtain affordable financing.
“So, the picture is now painfully clear: Tinubu’s government is crowding Nigerian businesses out of the domestic credit market while foreign investors are taking their money and heading for the exit,” he said.
“Local businesses are suffocating. Foreign capital is fleeing. Government borrowing is exploding. Food prices have skyrocketed. Transportation costs are crushing families.”
The former vice-president further accused the administration of celebrating its economic reforms despite what he described as worsening hardship across the country.
He said an economy could not genuinely be described as recovering when entrepreneurs were unable to access affordable credit, manufacturers were battling rising operating costs, households were losing purchasing power and investors were reluctant to retain their capital in the country.
Atiku said investors were increasingly assessing Nigeria based on economic fundamentals rather than government pronouncements or headline economic indicators.
He listed policy consistency, inflation, purchasing power, regulatory predictability and the prospect of sustainable returns as some of the factors influencing investment decisions.
“And their verdict is increasingly unmistakable: take the money and run,” he said.
Atiku called for a shift in economic policy, saying the government should focus on restoring investor confidence, reducing the cost of doing business and making energy and transportation more affordable.
He also advocated stronger support for production and a greater role for the private sector in driving economic growth.
“That is the fundamental difference between Tinubu’s economics of government consumption and Atiku’s economics of private-sector production and household affordability,” he said.
“You cannot borrow the private sector dry, impoverish consumers and then advertise yourself to the world as an investment destination. The investors are already answering the propaganda. They are leaving.”
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