The main opposition the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has lampooned President Muhammadu Buhari over The Economist report adjudging Nigerians poorer under his administration
The PDP said the aspirations of Nigerians would not be met under the leadership of the President.
The National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, said the report by the foreign magazine was a mere confirmation of what Nigerians knew and had been passing through.
“We all know the millions of people whose jobs had been lost; we also know that retirees are not paid while workers are praying daily to get paid for jobs they have done.
“We do not need any prophet to tell us that the last four years had been traumatic for Nigerians. But the sad thing is that, there is nothing on the ground to show that the next four years under the President will not be worse. It will be disastrous, especially when nothing is being done to secure the country and its people,” Secondus said.
Also, the African Democratic Congress and the Social Democratic Party agreed with the PDP that the report by The Economist only confirmed the position of opposition members that the present administration had no clue on how to manage the nation’s economy.
The ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, Yemi Kolapo; and her counterpart in the SDP, Alfa Mohammed, said this in separate interviews with one of our correspondents on Thursday.
Kolapo on her part claimed that the present government came into power unprepared.
She said, “It should not really take The Economist of this world to tell Nigerians that the economy was so poorly handled under the All Progressives Congress government.
“The sad reality is that those who should know in the APC government have chosen to politicise everything at the expense of Nigeria and Nigerians. Look at all the economic indices there are to watch, they are all sloping downwards. This government came into power unprepared.
“Even if we excuse that, the fact that they have shown cluelessness in 80 per cent of economic affairs, and know-how in only about 20 per cent should signal to them that they need to hand over the baton to those who know how to turn the economy around and also genuinely fight corruption.
“Nigerians made their choice by voting against President Buhari and the APC, but they have chosen to continue to inflict pain on the poor masses by sitting tight fraudulently. God will surely deliver His children.”
Mohammed, on his part, agreed with Kolapo that the magazine stated the obvious.
He said there was no way there would not be poverty in a country where there was insecurity and government policies were not favourable to investors.
He said, “The Economist is only stating the obvious. Every Nigerian knows that in the last four years, Nigerians have continued to be poorer.
“It is obvious for everybody to see. The genesis of the poverty the magazine talked about is known to all of us. Where there is insecurity and the people cannot carry out their business freely, there will be poverty.
“Where big businessmen who have the capacity to create jobs and employ people are being humiliated by the EFCC, there will be poverty. When you don’t create enabling environment for investment, there will be poverty.
“People now take their money outside Nigeria to invest, therefore, making those who are unemployed here to remain unemployed while providing jobs abroad.
“We in the opposition have been saying it that the policies of this government have been killing investors.
“Nigerians had the opportunity to make a change during the last elections, but unfortunately, they did not do that, just because of sentiments.”
