Buhari’s economic recovery plan dead on arrival – PDP

The Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the economic recovery plan unveiled on Wednesday by President Muhammadu Buhari as “dead on arrival.”

A statement issued on Friday by the spokesman of the PDP Caretaker Committee, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said waiting two years into his administration before unveiling an economic plan showed that the administration was unprepared for governance.

The PDP said the government lacked viable economic blueprint, stressing that this failure accounted for the current economic recession in the land.

The statement said, “It is on record that we alerted the nation after the 2015 general elections on the empty promises of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and cautioned the party to concentrate on governance.

“The blackmail and blame-game by the APC was, and still is a cover up for its obvious lack of plan. Instead, the APC ran our economy into recession after wasting two years witch-hunting PDP members and perceived enemies of government without paying attention to building on the robust achievements of the PDP.

“Nigerians can testify to the hardship, pains, starvation, hunger and agony inflicted on the people by the ineptitude of the APC administration.

“The recovery and growth plan is a proposal which requires implementation but we are worried because of the comments of President Muhammadu Buhari during the launch when he said, ‘I want to assure all Nigerians that we are approaching the solution to our economic challenges with the same will and commitment we have demonstrated in the fight against corruption, terrorism and militancy.

“It is therefore instructive to note that if the Economic Recovery Plan will follow the way of the anti-corruption war so far, then, the plan document is dead on arrival.

“In view of the above, we want to remind Nigerians that the anti-corruption war of President Muhammadu Buhari’s APC led government  has failed based on the following:

• The APC led Administration has secured only one conviction since it started the anti-corruption fight in the last two years;
• The EFCC is yet to open its case against Col. Sambo Dasuki after his arrest and detention about two years ago;
• No single case is before any court of competent jurisdiction in Nigeria against Alison Dieziani Maduekwe after all the allegations leveled against her by this administration;
• The Federal High Court in the last 72 hours has unfrozen the account of the former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan and dismissed the “no case submission” made by Chief Godsdey Orubebe, Barr. Ozhekome and Justice Ademola and others which showed the cases were more for propaganda effect than substance.
• Similarly, unwarranted freezing of accounts of other persons by the EFCC have also been reversed by competent courts;
• Several courts of competent jurisdiction have granted bails to a number of individuals being held by security agencies on corruption issues but the APC led government is yet to obey such court orders.

The statement continued, “While other Nigerians are suffering undue persecution by the APC led administration, the following are yet to answer for various allegations leveled against them: The Chief of Staff to the President (CoS), Abba Kyari; the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal; the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu; the Federal Government Committee on Northeast contract to ghost companies; alleged allegation against bribery by the Minister of Transport, Chibuike Amaechi and the Minister of Science and Technology, Chief Ogbonnaya Onuh; and many others.

“We are equally worried on how the APC Government intends to really actualize this lofty Plan (if it’s not the usual lies to the people) given the low state of Nigerian economy where government is borrowing domestically and internationally to fund its operations. The 2017 Budget is still a mirage.

“To buttress, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has declared that Nigeria is spending 66 per cent of its interest revenue on debt. In other words, the Federal Government has only 34 per cent of its revenue to tackle capital and recurrent expenditures and development.”