Scathing criticism has continued to hit the administration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the current economic recession, as the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) again described the government of being bereft of ideas and vision to right the trend.
It recalled that the previous administration had envisioned the present recession and opted to deregulate the sale of hydrocarbons in 2012 as well as encourage more savings in the Excess Crude Account under the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), but those efforts were resisted and thwarted by the then opposition.
Spokesman of the PDP, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, stated this yesterday in a statement in Abuja. Adeyeye was reacting to a statement credited to Governor Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa state, who blamed the current recession on the previous PDP-led government, accusing it of not preparing for the economic mess the nation presently finds itself in.
Quoting some authorities to back up his claim, Adeyeye told Badaru that “wrong economic policies of the APC-led government caused the current stagnation and recession in the country.”
According to him, the President of the Nigerian Employers Consultative Association (NECA), Larry Ettah, a few days ago, corroborated the PDP’s claim when he said “it is quite evident that the lack of clarity about the economic agenda of the current government contributed to the current economic stagnation and recession.”
Quoting Ettah, the party’s spokesman wrote: “In recent times at our AGMs, we have variously described our operating environment as challenging, unpredictable, unstable and energy-sapping. These words are, of course, true and descriptive of what our members have experienced in keeping their businesses afloat.”
Adeyeye said: “However, beyond that, we make bold to tell Governor Badaru that Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party Government saw this coming since 2011, and wanted to deregulate the sale of hydrocarbons in 2012, but Badaru and his co-travellers, who are now in the All Progressives Congress (APC) frustrated the effort.
“The former administration also wanted to encourage more savings in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) and set up the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), but the Badarus of this world who play politics with serious national issues, as state governors at the time, took the federal government to court and did everything to frustrate the effort.
“Thank God some of them are among the ‘best brains’ in the APC-federal government of today. Governor Badaru should know that you can’t plant grapes and harvest mangoes. It is no secret that the policies and statements made by key government actors have not been business friendly and Nigerians and foreign business men, took their hard currencies out of the country.
“They should be reminded that great leaders take over countries either in recession or war and still succeed in turning them around; quite unlike the prevailing situation where a ruling party plunges the economy into an avoidable recession, only to turn round and begin to whine helplessly like a baby.”
Citing some great leaders, the PDP said, “like Franklin D. Roosevelt, the President who ruled the United States from a wheelchair during the time of unprecedented economic depression and total war, introduced an ambitious programme for relief, recovery and reform called “the Great Deal”, which began to yield considerable dividends in weeks and Americans are the better for it today.
“In his first 100 days in office in 1933, Roosevelt was reputed to have renewed the American spirit and optimism by immediately addressing the effects of the depression. Through the Great Deal, he introduced a variety of programmes targeted at getting Americans back
to work, provide relief for the vulnerable, get industry and agriculture back on their feet, and engender accelerated recovery and economic growth.
“Or, how about the recent change of government in the United Kingdom where the new Prime Minister, Theresa May formed her cabinet within hours to ensure that the doubts arising from the uncertainty of Brexit Vote do not get the better of her citizens?”
Tackling the Jigawa state governor, Adeyeye said: “Badaru and those who still think like him should tell Nigerians the character of the economic team in place that has been managing the nation’s economy since 29th of May 2015. This ‘economic management policy’ of unhealthy propaganda and blaming the previous administration ceaselessly, will not take us anywhere.
“Will Badaru and his party men continue to blame Jonathan and the PDP ‘till 2019 and use Jonathan for the 2019 campaign instead of showing their scorecard? The good thing is that Nigerians, who were being hoodwinked at first, are now seeing through the deception of this
unending blame game. It is on record that one APC governor after his inauguration for his second tenure publicly announced that he inherited an empty treasury.
“Any dispassionate assessment of economic performance under Jonathan would obviously frown at Governor Badaru’s type of impulsive conclusion without recourse to the strong macroeconomic fundamentals recorded under Jonathan, which laid the foundation for meaningful growth.
“In particular, despite interfering global downturn, the overall real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate stood at an average of 5%, a growth that was largely driven by the non-oil sector in line with the success of the diversification effort of the Administration.
“There is no doubt that there was obvious improvement in inflation pressure which stood at a single digit and provided the stability and guarantees needed for the economy to remain stable.
“It actually borders on ignorance to claim that no cost cutting measures were introduced when the Jonathan Administration in one sector was able to reduce its food import bill from well over N1trillion to N684.7 billion as at December 2013 and subsequently cut it further down with improvements in local food production.
“Where was the governor when Jonathan’s administration embarked on comprehensive reforms in different sectors towards infrastructural renewal, promotion of sustainable development and the growth of the nation’s economy to become the largest in Africa?
“Let Governor Badaru be reminded that it was because of the milestones recorded in the local production of rice and other staple food that ensured robust local supply and remarkable progression which limited the demand for scarce foreign exchange needed for importation.
“We would be disappointed if the governor was oblivious of what was happening around him in the area of agricultural revolution; especially, as farmers from his part of the country openly expressed their support and gains from these initiatives.”
Referring to the recent visit of Facebook Founder, Mark Zukerberg, the party said: “We should also remind Badaru that the recent visit of the Facebook Founder, Mark Zukerberg to the Co-Creation Hub (CcHub) in Yaba, Lagos State, wouldn’t have happened if Jonathan did not have the Vision to set up the two ICT incubation centres in Lagos and Calabar.
“The former President built the Centres in support of youth entrepreneurship, just as he did with other successful youth-focused programmes like the Youth Enterprise with Innovation (YOUWIN) and the Nagropreneur Initiative that turned agriculture into an attractive industry for youths.
“Need we remind the governor that all these were possible because of the performance contract model Jonathan developed for his ministers where Key Performance Indicators (KPI) were jointly agreed and signed against which each minister’s measurable effectiveness was benchmarked?”
“In view of the above submissions, it is clear that the current economic recession in the Country was not caused by previous PDP’s administration or leaders but due to the poor management of Nigeria’s economy, lack of vision and incompetence of the present APC-led
federal government that drove Nigerians into this avoidable life threatening quagmire.
“Finally, we want to, therefore, advise the government of the day to stop the blame-game and look inward towards resolving the recession by inviting economic experts irrespective of their political leanings to join hands with the administration at these trying times,” the PDP counselled.
Meanwhile, Senator Dino Melaye (APC, Kogi West) yesterday called for the outright sack of the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, her Budget and National Planning counterpart, Senator Udo Udoma, and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, over the current recession afflicting the nation’s economy.
Melaye, in a statement issued to that effect, also slammed the President’s economic team led by the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, for more or less being a lame duck council, lacking the required knowledge on economy dynamics and the needed potency in
driving home any policy formulated.
According to him, President Muhammadu Buhari in the face of highly disturbing negative economic realities on ground, should take urgent drastic action by bringing on board people with sound economic knowledge and policies to replace Adeosun, Emefiele and Udo Udoma in their respective positions for lacking the capacity to manage the nation’s economy, let alone proffering solutions for its revival and as well disband the Osinbajo led committee.
He said: “At the moment, it must be crystal clear to all discerning minds that the President’s widely-acclaimed magical body language has lost its presumed aura and efficacy. His no-nonsense demeanour is equally neither instilling fear nor commanding respect and loyalty
from among his cabinet members.
“It is, therefore, obvious that the time for barking is over; now is the time to bite and boot out all those who have demonstrated, in the past several months, a crass lack of capacity to effectively carry out the functions of their office.
“The decisions of the Vice President Yemi Osibanjo-led economic committee have never been respected by the economic managers and the bureaucracy in Nigeria, thus, the need for a new committee.”
He specifically urged the President to, instead, constitute an Emergency Ad Hoc Economic Team’ made up of all former ministers of finance, ex-ministers of budget and national planning, ex-CBN governors as well as members drawn from the academia with “deep
knowledge of developmental economics to drive the economic revival programme.
“The President must immediately transit from mere rhetoric to drastic but positive action to save the economy and Nigeria from total collapse. The hunger in the land is real, pervasive, widespread and debilitating for the poor masses.
“As I walk the streets of my constituency these days, I constantly harbour a foreboding that I could be stoned by my angry constituents for the failure of Mr. President to fulfil his campaign promises and expectations to Nigerians.
“Nigeria is tottering on a dangerous precipice, sliding perilously to a certain catastrophe if the current economic malaise is not halted immediately.”
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