Bad Economy: Blame APC’s Incompetence, Poor Vision, Says PDP

• Party tackles Jigawa Governor

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

As Nigerians continue to lament the slide in the country’s economy, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that no one else but the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government should be held responsible for displaying absolute lack of vision and competence in the handling of the nation’s economy.

The party said rather than continue to pass the buck to the past administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, who tried his best while in office to keep the economy afloat, the APC-led government should blame its poor policies for the current economic stagnation and recession in the country.

Giving instances of remarkable turn-arounds in countries like America and Great Britain, the opposition party noted that world history is full of many examples where genuine leaders take over countries whose economies are stagnated and move them to positive growth.

In a statement issued on Sunday by the PDP’s spokesman, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, the party described the analogy made last Thursday by the Governor of Jigawa State, Abubakar Badaru, blaming the recession on ex-President Jonathan as grossly ill-informed.

While stating its own side of the argument, PDP said that its government saw the looming danger coming since 2011, and wanted to deregulate the sale of hydrocarbons in 2012, but that Governor Badaru and others in the APC vehemently opposed it.

It said that the former administration also wanted to encourage more savings in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) and set up the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) but some state governors at the time took the Federal Government to court and did everything to frustrate the effort.

“Our attention has once again been drawn to the recent inconsiderate statement attributed to the Governor of Jigawa State, Abubakar Badaru, and similar comments from people of like minds to the effect that the PDP administration was responsible for the current economic recession,” it said.

The PDP added that it is really disappointing that a notable personality as highly placed as a State Governor could be drawn into making idle and pedestrian claims without the benefit of facts.

According to the opposition party, it is the ever-changing, unpredictable, unstable and energy-sapping business environment being witnessed under the APC-led administration that has compounded the economic situation.

The party quoted the President of the Nigerian Employers Consultative Association (NECA) Mr.Larry Ettah as having complained bitterly about the difficult operating business environment.