• APC Faults Remark 

NIGERIA’S economy has suffered damage, since President Muhammadu Buhari took office three months ago, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said.

The party said the state of the economy, the worst in the nation’s contemporary history, is a fallout of uncertainty created by the inability of the Buhari-led government to chart a clear-cut policy, worsened by abuse of regulations, and violation of constitutional provisions.

PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement yesterday, said instead of gains, official reports showed that the last three months under the APC-led government have brought sudden decline in the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with attendant losses and hardship to the citizenry. “If not for crass incompetence or a possible ulterior motive to subjugate Nigerians for selfish reasons, what else explains the adamant stance of this administration in running a government without the statutory components of a full cabinet and precise fiscal policy direction, even when the negative consequences of this strange totalitarian approach are taking serious toll on the economy and the polity in general?” he queried.

APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, however, said PDP’s remark deserves outright dismissal because it lacks substance. He said: “Reacting to such balderdash may not be a good way of according the public due respect.

Clearly, any discerning mind would see that our friends are merely clutching at a straw, desperate for something to hang on to. “The reality on the ground is what every Nigerian can testify to. If the PDP is at a loss over what to say, I suggest they start by putting their house in order, first.

Nigerians can no longer be led by the nose. They know the difference between light and darkness. As they say, ‘he who feels it knows it’. “The likes of the PDP spokesperson can continue seeking cheap relevance, but the country has since moved on. The global community has moved on. They know what is at stake, and the direction the country is moving.

Clearly, you will see that most of the so-called allegations are mere wishful thinking of desperate individuals. Wishes that will not see the light of the day.”

Metuh further queried: “Whereas the APC-led government is busy with its propaganda of imaginary achievements, official reports from the National Bureau of Statistics show that the economy is being grounded with Nigeria’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) plunging with about 2.35 per cent, while job creation has dropped by 69 per cent.

In the last three months under an inept and poorly coordinated APC-led government, our nation’s economy, which before now, held the record as the largest in Africa and one of the fastest growing in the world, suddenly plummeted, as officially evidenced in the lull in the capital and money market sectors, which have lost billions of naira…spiral rate of inflation, and stagnation in domestic and foreign direct investments, with investors scared away due to the uncertainty arising from lack of economic direction and apparent confusion in the polity.

He lamented “the halt in infrastructure development projects in most parts of the country with associated massive job loss, closure of auxiliary small scale businesses, low purchasing power of citizens, among other negatives that have bedeviled the economy since the coming of this government, despite the much APC celebrated promissory notes from the President’s diplomatic shuttles, especially his recent visit to the United States.”

Nigerians would recall that we recently raised alarm on the negative consequences of the recent foreign exchange transaction restrictions, wherein this government is making it impossible for honest Nigerians to engage in free trade and regulate their personal activities as guaranteed by the constitution.

We also warned about the consequences of foisting a communist economic regime with bans and clampdowns on free trade and the freedom of Nigerians to freely open and operate domiciliary accounts as provided by the Foreign Exchange Monitoring And Miscellaneous Provisions Act, otherwise known as Decree No. 17 of 1995 and wondered whether the nation was not heading back to the era of import duty licenses and regulation of commodity prices.

Only recently, Fitch Rating, which, under the previous administration, affirmed Nigeria’s long-term foreign and local currency IDRs as well as senior unsecured bond and short-term foreign currency IDR ratings respectively at ‘BB”s, has now alerted that Nigerian banks and other businesses in the sector would be adversely affected by the economic slowdown occasioned by the incompetence of the President Buhari-led APC government.

This is more so as the absence of ministers has left the coordination of important government policies in ministries, departments and agencies in tatters, while creating loopholes for overzealous persons claiming closeness to the President to invade the system for inflated concessions, allocations, jobs and other financial sleazes, including misleading the President for approvals outside his limits.