The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has risen in defence of
the immediate past administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s
administration, saying the poor handling of the economy, lack of vision and
incompetence of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, is responsible for
the current recession.
The opposition party therefore urged the President Muhammadu
Buhari-led administration to stop the blame game and urgently “look inward
towards resolving the recession by inviting economic experts irrespective of
their political leaning to join hands with the administration at these trying
times”.
The party’s spokesman, Prince Dayo Adeyeye stated this on
Sunday in a statement issued in response to the Jigawa governor, Abubakar
Badaru’s recent laying of blame for the current economic situation of the
country on the past PDP administration of Jonathan.
The statement reads, “Our attention has once again been
drawn to the recent inconsiderate statement attributed to the Governor of
Jigawa State, Abubakar Badaru and similar comments from people of like minds to
the effect that the previous Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Administration was
responsible for the current Economic Recession.
“It is really disappointing that a notable personality as
highly placed as a State Governor could be drawn into making idle and
pedestrian claims without the benefit of facts. It is either he does not
realise the obligation of speaking responsibly in that position or he is
grossly ill-informed; in which case, we could only try to put the facts before
him, and hoping he would recognize them.
“In the first place, this blame is misplaced because our
elementary understanding of economics teaches us that the major cause of
recession is inflation and poor handling of the economy given that the higher
the rate of inflation, the more impoverished people become, industrial
production and GDP decline resulting in massive job losses. Perhaps we should
quote those who should know and tell Governor Badaru that wrong economic
policies of the All Progressive Congress (APC)-led Government caused the
current stagnation and recession in the Country.
“Larry Ettah, President of the Nigerian Employers
Consultative Association (NECA) did not mince words when he said few days ago
that, “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.” He said further, “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.
“However beyond that, we make bold to tell Governor Badaru
that Jonathan and the People’s 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 and were 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. When professionals
were advising the Government to woo investors, characters like Badaru were busy
de-marketing Nigeria all over the world. 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.
“World history is full of many examples where genuine
leaders take over countries whose economies are stagnated and move them to
positive growth. Like Franklin D. Roosevelt, the President who ruled the United
States from a wheel chair 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 hundred 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?
“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. He
was quickly reminded that he couldn’t have inherited empty treasury from
himself. This unfortunately, is the face of the comedy and farce that now
characterize governors and governance in this Country. 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 N1t to N684.7b 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? “Did he ever wonder why despite the “signals
towards end of 2013 to 2014”, as rightly identified by the Governor to be the
beginning of hard times, the economy remained stable with single digit
inflation during those periods?
“Let Gov. 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. Again, when he
said that “the past leaders did nothing to stop a looming recession”, we have
no choice but rise to put the facts right.
“Less we forget when the Senate approved $52 benchmark for
the Administration’s last Budget at a time Oil was selling for about $60 and
crashing further, the Government did not just sit down and watch events unfold.
Under the leadership of the Finance Ministry, the Administration developed a
scenario-based fiscal template with definite responses designed to track and
tackle varying challenges in the volatility regime.
“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 centers in Lagos and Calabar. The former President built the
Centers 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’s 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 leaning to join hands
with the Administration at these trying times.”
No comments:
Post a Comment