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Aare Amerijoye Dotb
When truth becomes a casualty of propaganda, nations suffer intellectual famine. A polemic flying around titled “Enemies Eating Nigeria From Within” reads less like a critique and more like the desperate howling of a mind refusing to accept historical reality.
Let’s begin with NITEL, the so-called “victim of awoof sale.” Before Atiku Abubakar, as Vice President and Chairman of the National Council on Privatisation, moved for liberalisation, Nigeria had just 450,000 telephone lines, mostly analog, mostly for the elite, and mostly non-functional. Waiting time for a telephone line was up to 3–5 years, and a SIM card, if you ever saw one, could cost as high as N250,000 ($2,000) on the black market.
Fast-forward to today: over 223 million mobile subscribers, broadband penetration over 45%, and the telecom sector contributes over 15% to Nigeria’s GDP annually (NBS Q4 2023). Who laid this foundation? The Obasanjo-Atiku administration. The so-called “awoof sale” of NITEL was a strategic death for a rebirth. Without that disruption, you and I wouldn’t have MTN, Glo, Airtel, or 9mobile. We wouldn’t be tapping on WhatsApp, posting on Twitter, or paying bills online. It wasn’t just privatisation,it was a telecom revolution that pulled millions into digital inclusion and birthed a new middle class.
The same goes for ALSCON (Aluminium Smelter Company). While it’s easy to lament its sale, the question is: what was its productivity at the time? ALSCON was inactive, suffering losses, and government had spent over $3.2 billion without commercial success. Atiku’s strategy was to offload liabilities, reduce government’s fiscal burden, and attract Foreign Direct Investment,a norm in developing economies transitioning from state capitalism.
Regarding Ajaokuta, what the writer failed to mention is that the $8 billion valuation was theoretical. The plant had never produced a single beam of steel since inception in 1979. Decades of mismanagement, corruption, and underfunding turned it into a glorified carcass. The Atiku-led NCP attempted to revive it through concession. Did it backfire due to legal wrangling? Yes. But who were in court? Nigerians sabotaging themselves,the same “patriots” who now pontificate on Facebook and WhatsApp without context.
And what of power sector reform? Atiku was at the forefront of unbundling NEPA into 18 successor companies, laying the framework for private-sector involvement in generation and distribution. The Electric Power Sector Reform Act of 2005, birthed under his supervision, still remains the fulcrum of Nigeria’s electricity architecture.
Furthermore, Atiku was instrumental in creating the Debt Management Office (DMO) to manage Nigeria’s debt profile transparently, and driving the Paris Club debt relief, which wiped out $18 billion of Nigeria’s foreign debt. He helped revive the banking sector, leading to the consolidation of 89 weak banks into 25 stronger entities, initiated under Charles Soludo but facilitated by a liberalised economic environment. GDP growth averaged 6–7% annually under Obasanjo-Atiku, with inflation tamed to single digits and Nigeria’s foreign reserves skyrocketing from $3 billion in 1999 to over $48 billion by 2007.
Now, to paint Atiku and OBJ as “enemies within” is not only historically dishonest but dangerously ignorant. What Atiku symbolises is a path toward market liberalisation, economic pragmatism, and institutional reform. Those who condemn privatisation should ask themselves why the Buhari administration, despite a record N77 trillion debt, still turned to PPP and privatisation for key infrastructure like railways, roads, and airports.
When Atiku mentioned the privatisation of NNPC to relieve Nigerians of its monumental inefficiency and endemic corruption, the APC screamed hell, demonising his foresight. But what is Tinubu doing with NNPC today? Murky restructuring, alleged opaque asset sales, boardroom chaos, and policy summersaults,without transparency, without legislative anchoring, and without patriotic clarity. Is that how reforms are done? Certainly not. Even privatisation must be principled, not predatory.
The APC propagandists need to be reminded that their lies cannot survive the test of veracity. In an age where platforms like Google, Yahoo News, BBC Reality Check, Reuters Fact Check and Africa Check exist, misleading narratives can no longer enjoy monopoly. A very ardent writer, armed with verifiable facts, can turn history into potent wordings, skilfully de-oxygenating every lie, stripping propaganda bare, and neutralising ignorance with the venom of truth.
As for the Calabar Coastal Highway, let’s not turn it into a sacred cow. Every public project must be subjected to due process, environmental evaluation, and public interest review. Even in advanced democracies, citizens have a right to question mega-projects that risk public land, heritage, or resources. That’s not sabotage. That’s accountability.
And finally, to those who worship propaganda: The real “enemies within” are not those who question power, but those who wield it to spread falsehood, weaponise ignorance, and smear progressives who dared to break Nigeria’s chains of underdevelopment.
Atiku Abubakar remains not a mistake of history but its architect of modernisation.
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