LAGOS, Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Wednesday, said the warning by Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the end of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on Tuesday, that the country’s economy could slip into recession next year, unless proactive steps are taken by the Federal Government to revive key sectors has justified its position on the lack of policy direction of the All Progressives Congress–controlled Federal Government.
The PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a telephone chat with Daily Independent said what his party once described as the alarming damage to the Nigerian economy by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration since assuming office almost four months ago is being corroborated by what Emefiele said.
It would be recalled that following the PDP’s statement on the state of the economy, the APC, in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed had accused it of openly launching a counter-offensive against the efforts of the Buhari administration to rid the country of impunity and corruption, warning that the opposition party will fail in its attempt to take Nigerians back to Egypt.
The statement by the PDP, the APC warned at the time, “is nothing but a thinly-veiled frontal assault on the relentless efforts of the Buhari Administration’s to clean the Augean Stable of the last PDP Federal Government. With its statement that is nothing but an unabashed support for impunity and corruption, as well as its major actors, the PDP has now confirmed itself as the official ‘poster boy’ for corruption in Nigeria.”
Metuh said given the way the economy is currently being managed, it may take Nigeria more than two years to get out from the rot.
CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele
“The Central Bank governor made the statement based on facts available to him. But what the PDP is saying about the direction of the economy is even weightier than what the CBN governor has said.
“The PDP has looked at the neglect of the economy in the past four months and we found out that besides the issue of absence of foreign investors, the foreign (existing) investors are leaving in droves and there is no conducive atmosphere for them to come back.
“Any economy that does not witness investment either local or foreign can never survive. And there is no policy or programme that the present Federal Government has to ensure that there are opportunities for investors in our economy, either in terms of money, market or infrastructure.
“There is no programme put in place for foreign investors at all. And we believe, without trying to be prophets of doom that with the way this government is going, the effect of it may take us more than two years to come out from,” he told Daily Independent.
Metuh also came down hard on the APC’s spokesman for describing him as ‘ethically challenged’ and for admonishing him to show some decorum in his public statements, while avoiding the use of trench language in public discourse.
Describing Muhammed as a ‘veteran of hate politics’ who is completely inconsequential in the scheme of things, Metuh said the APC spokesman enjoys dishing out propaganda so as to be in the news at all times, which according to him, runs contrary to the way the PDP had been playing its politics as the major opposition party in the last four months which is based on constructive criticisms and statements based on facts.
“We are more concerned about the programmes of his party and the ruling government. He is not important. He is completely inconsequential in the scheme of things in this country. He should stop dramatising himself as a factor.
“He is not a factor to be reckoned with. The APC did not win the presidential election because of him or because of the propaganda he dished out. He is confused and we feel sorry for him. He is suffering from narcissist syndrome,” he said.
Reacting, Muhammed said he would not join the PDP spokesman in any issue, urging him to “make his points without being abusive.”
Credit: Daily Independent (Nigeria)
