Stop blaming Jonathan, your lack of vision, incompetence caused current recession – PDP tells APC

7 years ago

Stop blaming Jonathan, your lack of vision, incompetence caused current recession – PDP tells APC

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has risen in defence of the immediate past administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, saying the poor handling of the economy, lack of vision and incompetence of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, is responsible for the current recession.
The opposition party therefore urged the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to stop the blame game and urgently “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 party’s spokesman, Prince Dayo Adeyeye stated this on Sunday in a statement issued in response to the Jigawa governor, Abubakar Badaru’s recent laying of blame for the current economic situation of the country on the past PDP administration of Jonathan.

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 tur

“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.”