Economy: ‘Ex CBN governor, Sanusi has vindicated us,’ says PDP

Main opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says the exposé by former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, that the gains made by Nigeria in 35 years were wiped out in the last five years, vindicates its stance that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration has ‘wrecked our nation.’

The PDP further asserted that the declaration by Sanusi directly reflects the position of majority of Nigerians across the country, as it also noted that the ‘dire situation is now beyond politics,’ even as it called on more stakeholders to ‘speak out irrespective of ethnicity, creed and political party affiliations, so as to save the nation from a total collapse.’

It would be recalled that the former Governor of the CBN had said last Saturday that the only time Nigeria made progress in 40 years was in 2014 during the administration of former president Goodluck Jonathan.

According to him, “In 1980, Nigeria’s GDP per capita on purchasing power parity basis was $2,180. In 2014, it appreciated by 50 per cent to $3,099. He further said that between 2014 to 2019, we have gone down from $3,099 to $2,229.

Sanusi, who gave the statistics in Kaduna at a colloquium to mark his 60th birthday, maintained that the government must make the economy grow for the sake of ordinary Nigerians.

According to him, in the last 40 years, the Nigerian economy had not made any meaningful progress.

The former banker explained that Nigeria’s GDP per capita on purchasing power parity had gone through a cycle where it grew and plummeted to nearly the amount it was 40 years ago.

“In 1980, Nigeria’s GDP per capita on purchasing power parity basis was $2,180. In 2014, it appreciated by 50 per cent to $3,099.

“According to the World Bank, where were we in 2019? $2,229. At this rate in the next two years in terms of purchasing power parity, the average income of a Nigerian would have gone back to what it was in 1980 under Shehu Shagari. That means, in 40 years, no progress, we made zero progress. 40 years wasted.

“Between 2014 and 2029, on the basis of this index of the purchasing power of the average income of an average Nigerian, we have wiped out all the progress made in 35 years. We have a responsibility as a people to rise and improve the lives of the people of this country,” said the former Emir of Kano.

A statement by the PDP, signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, Wednesday, accused the Buhari Presidency and the APC  of succeeding ‘in destroying every sector of our national life with their manifest incompetence, unbridled corruption, treasury looting, impunity, exclusionist and restrictive economic policies that have brought our nation to her knees,’ in the last six years.

“Nigerians can recall that the PDP handed over a robust economy, rated the largest hub in Africa and one of the fastest growing in the world with Fitch B+ rating and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $574 billion to President Buhari and the APC in May 2015.

“Sadly, in the last six years, Buhari-led APC administration has reduced our productive sectors to a complete wreckage with alarming 33.3 percent unemployment and 17.38% inflation rates; over 60 million hitherto flourishing businesses folded up and the naira crashing from N167 to a dollar in 2015 to N512 under the APC corrupt and directionless watch.

“More depressing is that the corrupt APC administration has practically erased all the gained of the debt repayment achieved by the PDP, returned our nation to a beggar state and mortgaged the sovereignty of our country with reckless borrowing and accumulated N33.107 trillion.

“Life has become so unbearable in Nigeria under President Buhari and the APC, that more than 82.9 million Nigerians are no longer able to afford their daily meals and other necessities of life, with our nation now ranking as poverty capital of the world and 98th out of 107 in Global Hunger Index.

“Today, under the APC, a liter of fuel which sold for N87 under the PDP now sells for N165, a bag of rice which sold for N8,000 now sells for N30,000, a measure of garri and beans which sold for N150 and N250 now sell for N600 and N800 respectively; a measure of maize and guinea corn which sold for about N150 now sells for N400, a kilo of meat which sold for about N800 now sells for about N2,300 while a 12.5 kg of cooking gas which sold for N3,000 now sells for over N6,000, all thanks to the incompetence and corruption of the Buhari-led APC administration.

“Furthermore, the compromises of the APC administration have led to the escalation of terrorist activities, banditry, kidnapping, killings, bloody agitations as well as other acts of violence that have turned our nation into a large funeral parlour, with no hope in sight,” the statement read.

The opposition party, therefore, urged ‘more Nigerians to speak out to rescue our nation from this fast descent to a failed state.’