NIGERIA – President Buhari-led administration had acknowledged the worrisome economic data, but assured of improvements in a bid to suppress the fears of Nigerians.
The Peoples Democratic Party has called for President Muhammadu Buhari’s resignation, accusing him of incompetence amid the economic the recession in the country.
The party stated this on Wednesday, August 31, hours after figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) confirmed that Nigeria had slipped into recession.
“We join all well meaning Nigerians to call on Mr. Buhari to resign if he is unable to reverse the disastrous economic decline he has brought on Nigerians,” the party said.
The NBS had said Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product decreased by 2.06 per cent, marking the first major recession in 29 years for Africa’s largest economy.
In a statement on Wednesday, signed by its director of new media, Deji Adeyanju, the PDP said the current crisis is a direct consequence of Buhari’s ineptitude and incompetence.
“Nothing better showcases the absolute ineptitude and incompetence of the Muhammadu Buhari administration than the GDP, Inflation and unemployment figures released by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics today,” the party said.
“The result of these indices is that Nigeria is in its worst economic state for 29 years — dating back to 1987 when the nation had to take harsh steps to recover from President Buhari’s policies of 1984-85.
“As with 1984-85, companies are fleeing our shores in droves. Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) recently stated that 272 companies have shut down in the past one year,” Adeyanju said.
He also quoted key aspects of the detailed data as released by the NBS and compared them with what they were before the PDP was voted out in 2015 after a 16-year streak.
“Portfolio investment declined to an estimated $245.3m in Q2 2016. This represents a 9.5% from $271.0m in Q1 2016 & is a far cry from $2.81bn in Q2 2015,” Mr. Adeyanju said. “A total of 4,580,602 people have lost their jobs since May 29, 2015.”
The Buhari administration had acknowledged the worrisome economic data, but assured of improvements in a bid to suppress the fears of Nigerians.
“The just released GDP figures for the 2016 second quarter by the National Bureau of Statistics while confirming a temporary decline, has (sic) also indicated an (sic) hopeful expectation in the country’s economic trajectory,” the State House said in a statement signed by Laolu Akande.
The administration attributed the negative results to the activities of oil vandals said other aspects of the economy were yielding intended results
