Political opposition urges Buhari to articulate economic direction

The opposition party therefore called on the APC-led government to assemble an economic team and commence delivering on electioneering promises.

President Buhari

Olisa Metuh, PDP national publicity secretary, in a statement on Monday, said it was disappointing that a government that came to power on claims of high moral ground, rather than focusing on delivering its promises, was dancing around the achievements of the previous government in an attempt to make the public believe that recorded successes in critical sectors were theirs.

The party said, instead, the APC and President Muhammadu Buhari should make haste to activate the various economic outlets, which had been stagnated due to their inability to articulate a clear-cut economic policy for the nation.

The party finds it unacceptable, the reasons being adduced, for a government in a democratic setting to run for almost three months without a cabinet and any policy direction whatsoever, he said.

This is the first time since Nigeria’s independence that “our nation has stayed without a complete composition of government for three months,” he said, saying that “the negative effect of this anomaly has taken a huge toll on the country’s economy and the welfare of Nigerians.

“For instance, how do we explain APC’s spirited effort to make the public believe that the equipping of the country’s military for the fights against insurgency; the turn around of the nation’s oil refineries; and the polio-free certification of Nigeria were products of their government even when it is common knowledge that they have not been able to find their bearing for governance since their election into office.

“If the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki had not been courageous enough to release those incontrovertible facts that the Goodluck Jonathan-led PDP administration actually fortified the country’s military before leaving office in May, the APC would have succeeded in its propaganda against that administration and led Nigerians to believe that the equipping was a product of President Buhari’s recent diplomatic shuttles.

“It is an obvious fact that before the May 29 handover to the APC, the

Nigerian armed forces, using these equipment sourced under the watch of the PDP government, had already pushed the insurgents to the verge of surrender in the Sambisa forest, only for them to now resurge under the APC-led government due to apparent lack of direction and confusion that have characterised this administration.

“In the same way, this government has positioned itself to claim credit for the turn around and resuscitation of some of the nation’s oil refineries without reference to the past administration that initiated and executed the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the facilities years back, which dividends the nation now enjoys and which we expect will result in steady supply of petroleum products in our nation.

“While the PDP understands the nervousness of the APC and its government in the challenge of fulfilling their bogus promises upon which they rode to power, such does not in any way rationalise the resort to deceit and flagrant appropriation of another’s achievements, a thing no serious, credible and honest government will do.”

The PDP said instead of trying to poach achievements to earn an undeserved praise, the APC and its government should brace up, articulate a precise economic policy, assemble an economic team and urgently commence the delivery of their promises for which they were voted.

“We express this concern against the backdrop of information that unpatriotic persons close to government are already hounding civil servants for inflated concessions, allocations, jobs and other favours being unduly granted, making the system fertile for heavy financial sleazes in the absence of appropriate statutory supervising officers.

“This is in addition to the avoidable economic downturn now manifesting in the abandonment of ongoing infrastructural projects, crippling of foreign and domestic investments and continued slide in the money and capital markets,” according to the statement.