Former Akwa Ibom State Governor, Victor Attah, has said the 2023 elections ‘badly disabled’ President Bola Tinubu.

Speaking at the 2024 Investiture ceremony of the Institute of Certified Sales Professionals, ICSP, in Lagos, Attah said the elections damaged Nigeria’s image, exacerbated by insecurity, corruption and lack of basic infrastructure.

According to Attah: “Selling Nigeria in the aftermath of 2023 elections is not an easy job.

‘‘As has been shown, our actions and utterances up to the elections and still continuing, have left us with two major strikes. The first is we have a damaged product and the second is our No. 1 salesman, the President, has been badly disabled. But we must not give up.”

Attah said the country’s economic fortunes started dwindling with excessive dependence on crude oil and disregard for agriculture.

He said as global demand for basic raw materials grew, Nigeria’s output declined both in quantity and quality, thus leaving billions of foreign exchange for other countries.

“The attempt to start exporting yams during Buhari’s first term ended in failure essentially because the quality of the yams was impaired by the time the consignment arrived at its destination,” he added.

The former governor said Nigeria lost its competitive business edge as the largest producer of cassava in the world, and among the top nations exporting palm produce, cocoa, groundnuts, hides and skin because there was no strategic plan, consistency and the will to provide what the world wants.