In a post titled "National Economic
Emergency" which he shared on his Facebook
wall yesterday, former media aide to former
President Jonathan, Doyin Okupe, prevailed
on former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-
Iweala, to have a rethink and lend her
support to the APC-led government towards
reviving the economy which is currently in
recession.
According to him, issues concerning Nigeria
should not be politicized. He also gave
support towards the Economic Emergency
power President Buhari is asking the
National Assembly to give him so he can
move speedily towards reviving the economy.
Read his post below...
It is a fact that Nigeria as a country is
in dire straits in terms of its economy.
It is not too important how we got
here or who or what brought us here.
We need an exit plan desperately.
Sadly, there is too much politicking in
Nigeria.
Our Partisanship is obscenely
unhealthy for our nation. A few of our
people are still behaving as if
elections are yet to take place. But the
truth is elections have come and
obviously they have also gone.
Unfortunately our economy, has
slipped into a recession and that is
crippling everybody and everything. No
matter what government and those
opposed to government are saying,
there is no easy way out of a
recession.
When President Obama
came in, in his first term, the US was
in recession. He was young, brilliant,
and smoking hot, it took nearly 2yrs
to see the tips of the mountain, and
almost the same length of time before
the flood of recession started to
recede. At that time the opposition
threw diatribes and invectives similar
to what is being thrown at President
Buhari now, at him. But he remained
focussed and steadfast. Eventually he
succeeded.
‘While wailing, howling or
even cursing from the populace will
certainly not help our situation,
pretence, conceit or sheer optimism
from government quarters also is no
panacea for the economic infirmity
bedevilling our Nation. ‘This situation
calls for an end to extreme
partisanship in the face of a major
threatening national emergency. ‘We
need to, and we must put all hands on
deck. May be President Buhari’s
famous quote”….We have no other
country that we can call our own” is
more apt now than “the change
begins with me ” mantra, which may
not be as bad as it is being presented,
except that the cliche was coming
almost 18months late. It would have
been better received if it was part of
the inaugural speech of the president.
Dr,mrs, Okonjo Iweala must have a
rethink. This is not about Buhari or
Apc, it is about the survival of over
20% of black population in the world.
It is about the continued existence of
the most populous nation in Africa. It
is about Nigeria, the only nation where
black history and heritage can be
redefined. We must bring in all our
aces, Kalu Ndika Kalu, Soludo, Rewani,
Tunde Lemo, Utomi, shanmsudeen, our
revered Emir of Kano and a host of
others. Recession is a word, I agree,
but a very challenging word describing
a critical problem. But it is a
challenge.
Nations have gone in and
out of recessions before now, we can
jointly, working together , find answer
to this thorny all encompassing
national malaise. Does the President
need emergency powers to deal with
this situation ? I answer YES in the
affirmative even though I have
reservations . But truth is sacrosanct .
Monies must be spent that cannot
wait for the normal process of
legislative approvals. Actions must be
taking by the President and his
executives that cannot wait for the
usual debates in our hallowed
legislative chambers. But alas, there
are fears, genuine fears of abuse of
such powers, especially against
political opponents. Perhaps this is
what we need to debate and work on
and ensure that all such possibilities
are eliminated with legislative
craftiness and deftness that cannot be
wanting amongst the robust body of
our legislators . But if the president
must lead this struggle against
Recession such legal framework will
assist him greatly.’
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