ABUJA — The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,
has challenged the All Progressives Congress,
APC, to provide solution to the worsening
economic situation in the country, saying the
faulty policies of the present administration,
and not the Jonathan government, was
responsible for the recession in the country.
In a statement reacting to the allegation by
the Governor of Jigawa State, Abubakar
Badaru, that the PDP administration was
responsible for the present recession in the
country, spokesman of the party, Prince Dayo
Adeyeye, said the APC government should
stop the blame game and come up with
policies that will move the country out of
recession.
According to Adeyeye, instances abound where
great leaders take over countries at the time
of recession or even war and turn the country
around.
The statement read: “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 realize 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 Progressives
Congress (APC)-led government caused the
current stagnation and recession in the
country.
“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.”
“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.” vanguard
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