Buhari govt does not have economic vision~ PDP

Firstclass newsline gathered that the Peoples Democratic Party has
accused President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government of lacking
economic direction.
It therefore urged the All Progressives Congress' administration to
pay urgent attention to the management of the nation's economy.
The party said its worry stems from the result of the assessment it
made which showed that the economy had remained on a rapid fall in the
last four months. This, the PDP said, was due to lack of a clear-cut
fiscal policy direction and an economic team to deal with the domestic
and global challenges associated with a developing economy.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, said this in
a statement in Abuja on Monday.
Metuh said, "Whereas the PDP is in full support of the President's
efforts in tackling corruption and insurgency, the party is however
concerned about the grave economic situation we now face, as well as
indices from global economic watchers, which this administration has
failed to give deserving attention, despite its predictable negative
impact."
Metuh said as a responsible party, it was the duty of the PDP to draw
the President's attention to the fact that under the prevailing
circumstances, the nation was heading to economic doldrums.
He said, "Mr. President, this is no longer about politics and
partisanship. It is about the economy of our dear nation and the
well-being of the Nigerian citizens.
"Recall that we have severally in the past, drawn attention to
official reports showing that the unemployment situation in the
country as well as inflation rate are growing at frightening
dimensions, let alone the continued decline in domestic and direct
foreign investments, all due to uncertainty created by the lack of
economic direction of the APC-led administration.
"The situation has become even of utmost concern following the failure
of this administration to articulate any interventionist policy at
this critical moment, when credible global economic monitors have
continued to predict that oil price may fall to as low as $20 per
barrel.
"It is worrisome that whilst other countries are taking deliberate
steps to enhance their investment profiles and hedge their economies
at this time, the APC-led Federal Government has done nothing in that
direction, but has centered on partisan politics and a witch-hunt of
perceived opponents, while the economy remains vulnerable and
unattended to.
"We caution strongly that this approach to governance is not healthy
for our nation. Indeed, the time has come for Mr. President to end the
apparent lethargy in his administration and take urgent step to set up
a crack economic team of experts to immediately swing into action and
salvage the situation by opening up all economic outlets, which have
been stagnated in the last four months."
In managing this economy, Metuh urged the President, as the father of
the nation, to look beyond partisan politics and ensure that the
policy framework and populist economic projects laid by the PDP
administration, especially in the non-oil sectors were not dumped.
He said, "In this regard therefore, we wish to draw attention to
various agricultural projects and programmes established by the PDP,
especially in the northern states, such as various dams and irrigation
projects, the e-wallet financial empowerment system to farmers
associated to the over two million direct farm jobs, as well as the
Green Belt project under the Presidential Initiative on Afforestation
in Kano and 10 other northern states, all in line with the PDP's
agenda to return the region as the food basket of the nation."
But the National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has
described the PDP's statement on the nation's economy as part of the
opposition's ploy to distract the Buhari administration from its
onerous task of putting the nation on a sound footing.
Mohammed in a statement noted that the PDP's statement was a litany of
delusional self praise, rather than a genuine concern about the
nation's well being.
''The question the PDP should ask itself is that if it had laid a
solid foundation for the economy in its 16 years in charge, could such
a foundation have given way in just three months of a new
administration?
''If the PDP had been as fantastic as its statement had portrayed, it
would still be the ruling, rather than the opposition party that it is
now.
''It is therefore important for the PDP to concentrate its attention
on remaking its tattered image rather than continuing to act as a
desperate attention-seeking opposition,'' Mohammed said.
Firstclassnewsline.net