The Federal Government has identified the poor state of the country’s economy, especially the depreciation in the Naira exchange rate, as the consequence of massive looting of the treasury and mismanagement of the economy under the immediate past administration of Goodluck Jonathan.
A statement signed by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, described the comments credited to Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, that businesses may collapse in the next six months because the Buhari administration has mismanaged the economy, as the clearest indication yet that the PDP and its leaders are still in denial about the massive body blows they inflicted on the Nigerian economy.
He said that Senator Ekweremadu complained about the depreciation of the Naira without telling Nigerians who ‘dollarized’ the Nigerian economy by bribing many individuals and groups with dollars during the last elections, thus inflicting a knock-out punch on the local currency.
The minister assured that despite the mind-boggling revelations about looting and the mismanagement by self-styled economic wizards, the economy will bounce back under the watch of President Buhari, who is bringing probity and transparency back into governance.
He said, "If there was still any honour left among thieves, there is no way the leaders of a party under whose watch the nation’s economy suffered a monumental mismanagement and the Central Bank was turned to the ATM or piggy bank of a few people will have the temerity to insult a government that is working hard to turn things around or the citizens who are bearing the brunt of such mismanagement.
"It is now clear to all Nigerians that if the PDP had won the last general elections, Nigeria’s economy would not have survived one more month, considering the battering it received under the immediate past administration.
"It is, therefore unconscionable that those who should show contrition and hunker down to avoid public opprobrium are the same ones pointing an accusing finger at the Buhari Administration.”
Alhaji Mohammed stated that Ekweremadu also failed to tell Nigerians which government presided over the frenzied mop-up of dollars, either for ‘armsgate’ or slush fund purposes, from the CBN to a point where it almost ran out of the hard currency.
The Minister said even though the Buhari Administration met an economy that was in coma, it had refused to use that as an excuse for inaction, hence has been working hard on measures that will turn the economy around and greatly offer relief to Nigerians by lifting millions of people out of poverty.
"The outcome of the months of hard work (by the Buhari government) will manifest soon in the 2016 national budget that will give succour to millions of Nigerians,” the Minister assured.
He added "In the latest revelation, a Minister under the immediate past dispensation admitted to sharing 600 million Naira to six Chairmen of the Contact and Mobilization Committee of the PDP for the last general elections, 300 million Naira to an account given by a former PDP chairman, 200 million Naira to a PDP governorship candidate and 100 million Naira to a former PDP governor.
This is just one case out of many, yet these revelations are but a tip of the iceberg of what Nigerians will hear in the days ahead."
