… Holds APC Responsible for Devaluation of Naira
…Demands Transparency on N1.3tr COVID-19 Intervention Fund.
Gentlemen of the Press,
The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Buhari Presidency have
finally wrecked our nation’s economy and there is no hope in sight under
their control.
The APC and Buhari Presidency have turned us into a beggar nation and
the world poverty capital with their inherent recklessness and lack of
capacity to articulate strategies that will sustain and grow our
hitherto robust economy which they took over from the PDP in 2015.
Nigerians are all aware that before the PDP left office in 2015, our
party had succeeded in growing our economy with policies and programmes
that boosted private sector participation to the extent that Nigeria was
ranked the third fastest-growing economy, after China and Qatar, with
capacity to lend to other countries.
Today, the sheer incompetence, greed, reckless policies and deep
corruption of the APC have reversed all these gains and destroyed our
national economic capacities to the extent our nation can no longer
finance our national budget.
Our nation is currently in shambles with a drifting economy, a devalued
currency (N380 to a dollar), collapsed infrastructure, a frightening
23.1% unemployment rate, high cost of essential goods, increased
morbidity rate, reduced life expectancy and a despondent citizenry
leaving our country in droves.
This situation is worsened with the reckless foreign borrowing by the
APC and its administration which today stands at an alarming $108
billion with no productive repayment plan; funds which have been exposed
as being frittered and stolen by APC leaders and the cabal.
It is on record that the APC, as a party, has never made any useful
suggestion or contribution towards good governance. Of course it has no
such propensity, being only a power-grabbing vehicle fabricated by
treasury looters that have no interest in the welfare of Nigerians.
More distressing is that the APC Federal Government has become
overwhelmed, confused and now resorts to uncoordinated knee-jerk
measures and lame excuses such as trying to heap the blames of our
economic woes just on the COVID-19.
It is however instructive to note that even before the COVID-19, our
economy was already in shambles and had been on a free fall in the last
five years, due to the incompetence and reckless policies of the Buhari
administration
It is also on record that our party had consistently pointed to the
economic lapses of the Buhari-led APC administration with options on
economic recovery, which were all ignored.
President Buhari and the APC had persistently ignored wise economic
counsels by well-meaning Nigerians, groups and even international
organizations, who had consistently advised the government on the need
to diversify our economy and boost private sector participation.
Instead, the APC administration had continued to stifle foreign
investments and cripple domestic production with its thoughtless
exclusionist polices, inordinate lust for control, excessive taxes,
repressive and exploitative export and import restrictions, suppression
of open market participation, obnoxious forex policies, neglect of
infrastructural development, abuse of human rights and disregard to the
rule of law while failing in promises made to investors and domestic
entrepreneurs. These have led to loss of investors’ confidence and
crippling of strategic businesses across critical sectors.
It is indeed wearisome that the Buhari administration had chosen to be
laidback in the face of serious issues of governance. Nigerians can
recall that when oil price dropped to $52 per barrel, below the $57
benchmark for the 2020 N10.95 trillion budget, the Minister of Finance,
Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, while briefing newsmen at
the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting on March 4, 2020,
admitted that the Government was not taking any measures but waiting,
according to her, for a “reasonable time” to act.
The minister’s declaration only confirmed that the APC Government failed
to proactively engage other players in the international oil and gas
market to adopt quick measure that would have protected our economy from
the fallout of the international price war that triggered oil price
crash, which now slumped to an alarming $28 per barrel.
It is worrisome that while other countries quickly adopted measures to
ease liquidity, the APC administration remained laidback and helpless,
only to resort to knee-jerk measures.
The result was that last week, not a single Foreign Portfolio investor
participated in the Open Market Auction conducted by the CBN. That was a
huge vote of no confidence on our system. The APC government later
responded with a desperate measure of devaluing our currency to N380 to
1.USD at the Investor and Exporters (1&E) window; a development that has
put our economy under more stress.
It is therefore clear that our nation is doomed under APC and our
challenges can only get worse under this dysfunctional party.
Consequently, the PDP, as a pan Nigeria party, is deeply worried and
cannot fold its hands and watch while those who have no interest in the
welfare of our nation continue to wreck the destiny of our people.
In the light of the above, the PDP resolves as follows:
Our Party, the PDP holds the Buhari administration responsible for the
devaluation of the naira due to its failures.
President Buhari should immediately end all tactless economic policies,
accept failure, seek help and get more competent hands to work on the
economy, develop strategies to strengthen the naira as well as paddle
our nation out of the current economic quandary.
The Government should end its exclusionist policies and allow competent
Nigerians, who are now being engaged by other countries, to help out.
The Buhari-led APC administration should immediately cut down the size
of its over-bloated government and plug waste by clipping the luxury
expenditure of the Presidency, cabinet ministers and other executive
appointees while channeling billions of naira to be saved to national
economy.
The Buhari-led administration should also shelve every plan of
increasing the already excruciating taxes including the Value Added Tax
(VAT) which it increased from 5% to 7.5%, with an attendant high costs
on essential goods and services.
The Federal Government, in its plans to review the 2020 budget, should
not touch items that have direct bearings on the welfare of Nigerians
but immediately cut all over-bloated executive votes as well as expunge
paddings and fraudulently duplicated items, which our party initially
pointed out in the budget.
The Buhari Presidency should immediately take steps to recover the over
N14 trillion stolen by APC cabals, including the N9trillion stolen oil
money as detailed in the leaked NNPC memo and channel same to social
palliatives.
The PDP is worried over allegations of corruption in handling of the
N1.3 trillion set aside to cushion the effect of COVID-19 on the
economy. Our party demands ultimate transparency. The Federal Government
should come clean on the source of the intervention, the specific
intervention projects where the fund will apply, the level of
involvement of other tiers of government and private stakeholders, as
well as the mode of disbursements and monitoring.
The PDP demands that the COVID-19 interventions be allocated to the
three tiers of government for effective delivery and monitoring.
Furthermore, the PDP calls on all economic stakeholders, particularly in
the private sector, to immediately rally to articulate solutions and
palliative measures, since it is clear that the Buhari-led APC
government is clueless and has no solution to offer.
The PDP urges the economic stakeholders to articulate ways to
effectively diversify our economy and provide jobs using the
all-inclusive measures implemented by PDP administrations to effectively
grow the economy as well as successfully handle emergencies such as the
Ebola virus disease.
Our party worked very hard to grow our economy and will not allow an
incompetent, insensitive and corrupt party and its administration ruin
our nation.
Thank you.
