Buhari is clueless on how to get Nigeria out of recession – PDP

The People’s Democratic Party, PDP, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of “badly mismanaging,” the economy of Nigeria since his assumption of office. PDP was reacting to the figures quoted by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, while speaking at the 2016 Presidential Policy Dialogue Session, organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry yesterday. According to Daily Post, Osinbajo had painted a gloomy picture of the

country’s current economy which has continued to dwindle. In a statement by its Director, New Media, Deji Adeyanju on Thursday, the opposition party said foreign investment fell by 56% from $395m in the first quarter of 2015 to $175m in the first quarter of 2016.

Adeyanju disclosed that the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, growth of the country has fallen from 6.3% in 2014 to 2.3% in 2015 & -1.8% in 2016.

The party said inflation had risen to 16.5% in 2016, and that it stood at 9.6% in 2015 & 8.6% in 2014.

In the statement, the party attributed these shortfalls to the negative effects of the alleged failed & incoherent policies of the Buhari’s administration.

According to the party, “The facts stated this morning by @ProfOsinbajo are confirmation of the negative effects of the failed & incoherent policies of the @MBuhari administration since inception.

“For the avoidance of doubt, we will repeat some of them. Foreign Investment fell by 56% from $395m in Q1 2015 to $175m in Q1 2016. Foreign Investment in the Stock market stood at a mere $90.3m in Q1 2016 down from $621m in Q1 2015.

“Inflation has risen to 16.5% in 2016. It stood at 9.6% in 2015 & 8.6% in 2014. GDP growth has fallen from 6.3% in 2014 to 2.3% in 2015 & -1.8% in 2016. It is difficult to verify his claim that FIRS has achieved 73.17% because the FIRS has blatantly refused to publish quarterly reports for 2016.

“@ProfOsinbajo also states that CAPEX spending of the FG this year has been N332b & promises a release of N100b in the coming days. While we appreciate this expenditure, it is a meagre 18.4% of the N1.8t proposed by #Budget2016 & as such is insufficient to provide any meaningful effect on the economy. Releasing only 18.4% of CAPEX expenditure as at August 2016 has stalled infrastructure develpment & has killed 1000s of jobs.

“The sum total of these figures shows that @MBuhari admin has badly mismanaged the Nigerian economy. Even worse, the @MBuhari admin has no clue as to how to reposition Nigeria to beat the recession they have forced us into.

“Many agencies are violating the FOI Act & refusing to divulge data because such data would reveal the extent of damage this admin has caused. We hope that having finally appointed a Special Adviser on Economic Matters the @MBuhari admin will come up with better policies than the “try your luck” approach adopted in the past 15 months.”