PMB Should Stop Blaming GEJ For His Incompetence – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has faulted the allegations by the All Progressives Congress (APC) that the Goodluck Jonathan administration set Nigeria up for the current economic crisis in the country.

It said the poor handling of the economy, lack of vision and incompetence of the President Muhammadu Buhari government caused the current recession.

The party urged the APC-led government to stop blaming Jonathan for its inadequacies, but rather “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 PDP stated this in a statement by its national publicity secretary, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, in reaction to the to a statement attributed to the Jigawa State governor, Abubakar Badaru, who blamed the current economic situation in the country on the immediate past administration.

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?