Former Vice Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, has decribed Nigeria’s Fitch rating, saying the Fitch statistics were misleading.

Datti stated this in an interview with Arise Television on Tuesday.

Recall that a recent Fitch report said the reform progress since President Bola Tinubu’s government came to power in May 2023 has been faster than it had anticipated.

The Fitch Ratings projected that Nigeria’s inflation rate will moderate to 21.1 per cent in 2024 from an average of 24.8 per cent in 2023.

The global rating firm disclosed this in its recent report, which affirmed Nigeria’s long-term foreign-currency issuer default outlook at a ‘B’ stable outlook.

According to the firm, Nigeria’s inflation, a significant economic indicator, would decrease by 5.62 from 26.72 per cent in the September rate.

“Fitch projects inflation moderates to 21.1 per cent in 2024 from an average 24.8 per cent in 2023, helped by lower deficit monetisation, but well above the ‘B’ medians of 6.0 per cent and 4.9 per respectively,” the report said.

Similarly, Fitch projected a 1.1 per cent Gross Domestic Product rise in government revenue between 2023 and 2025 to 8.5 per cent GDP.

It added that Nigeria’s budget deficit/GDP will narrow to 5.0 per cent and 4.6 in 2024 and 2025.

But, reacting to the Fitch ratings, Datti stated,  “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, those figures that give you, because there is nothing as misleading as far as welfare is concerned as growth. 

“The stethoscope you use in measuring the heartbeat of an elephant, for example, China, cannot be the same one you use to measure the heartbeat of a rat.”

Meanwhil, the former vice presidential candidate said the state of democracy in Nigeria is poor, and the people have to wake up. “For a people that are ready to accept anything, then anything will happen to them,” he said.

Datti said, “Anytime the Nigerian people decide that they want to defend their constitution and take back power in their country, anything can happen, and any fraudulent government will be fair game for them.

“For Peter Obi and me, it is over. For we, the people, the Nigerian people, at any point in time, they can take back Nigeria.”

On the Supreme Court verdict, Datti said that the Labour Party completely rejects and does not stand with the judgement, adding that the judgement stands largely because ‘we can’t do anything about it,’ going on to say that.

He said, “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, that is why I’m here sitting with you today and still complaining.”