Former Vice Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, has criticized Nigeria’s Fitch rating, stating that the Fitch statistics are misleading. Datti voiced his concerns during an interview with Arise Television. This comes in response to a recent Fitch report that commended the reform progress under President Bola Tinubu’s government, noting it as faster than anticipated.
According to the Fitch Ratings report, Nigeria’s inflation rate is expected to moderate to 21.1 percent in 2024, down from an average of 24.8 percent in 2023. The global rating firm affirmed Nigeria’s long-term foreign-currency issuer default outlook at a ‘B’ stable outlook. Fitch projected a 1.1 percent increase in government revenue between 2023 and 2025, leading to an 8.5 percent GDP.
In addition, the report indicated that Nigeria’s budget deficit/GDP is projected to narrow to 5.0 percent and 4.6 percent in 2024 and 2025. However, Datti Baba-Ahmed criticized these statistics, stating, “If you want to know what is happening in Nigeria, come to us in Nigeria and don’t read those statistics because they are misleading. They always speak about growth. It’s not growth actually that matters.”
Regarding the Supreme Court verdict, Datti expressed the Labour Party’s complete rejection of the judgment, noting that they don’t stand with it. He acknowledged the limitations of challenging the verdict, saying, “They have the power, nobody can do anything about it. That is why we said it is an unreasonable show of force. If there was something we could do, we would stop it, but we are law-abiding citizens.”
