FG Accuses Atiku of Scaremongering, Says PDP’s Candidate Lacks Originality  

*Blames Russia-Ukraine conflicts for inflation, low capital inflow

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

The federal government has described former Vice-President and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as a scaremonger and somebody that lacks authentic ideas to address the country’s socio-economic challenges.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who addressed the media yesterday in Abuja, shredded the main opposition presidential candidate’s economic blueprint that was unveiled in Lagos, describing it as a disingenuous attempt at copying all that the Buhari’s administration had done.
He said no amount of deceit, misrepresentation, distortion of facts or derogation by Atiku could subtract from the visible achievements of the Buhari’s administration.

The minister said across the country, the administration had through a combination of budget increase and innovative infrastructure financing methods constructed 8,352.94 kilometres of roads, rehabilitated 7,936.05 kilometres of roads, constructed 299 bridges, maintained 312 bridges and created 302,039 jobs in addition to delivering houses in 34 states of the federation under the first phase of the National Housing Project.

Mohammed said contrary to Atiku’s pronouncement that the country’s economic outlook was bleak, the economy has rather exhibited resilience having recovered from two recessions in 2016 and 2020, and recorded 3.54 per cent growth in real terms in the second quarter of 2022 from 3.11 per cent in the first quarter of the year.

“I am not really very surprised that His Excellency the former vice president reeled out in his so-called economic blueprint, what we have been doing in the past seven years plus in infrastructure development, infrastructure financing, poverty reduction, power reform, job creation, relationship with the private sector, debt management and the overall management of the economy.
“That’s what you get from someone who leaves the country after losing an election, only to parachute into town when another election is due,” Mohammed remarked.

He tackled former vice-president for allegedly misrepresentation facts by asserting that the country under the APC-led government had consistently run on budget deficits since it came to power in 2015. According to him, the budget deficits were often above the three per cent threshold permissible under the fiscal responsibility law.

Rather, he noted the country has been running on budget deficits since 2009, even when oil prices were over $100 per barrel, adding the crash of oil prices from mid-2014, resulted in the country’s economic recession in 2016.

He said: “The urgency to recover from the recession through an expansionary fiscal policy resulted in the continued budget deficits. However, in the last three years, the deficit level exceeded the three per cent threshold stipulated in the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007.

“Again, this is understandable because shortly after the Nigerian economy recovered from recession, it was hit by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. What His Excellency failed to tell his audience is that the Fiscal Responsibility Act, Section 12(2), allows for the budget deficit to exceed the three per cent threshold if, in the opinion of the President, there is a clear and present threat to national security or the sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

The minister added that although the country had recovered from economic recession, it has been impacted by the Russia-Ukraine conflicts, the lingering impact of COVID-19 and elevated inflation in most economies, prompting monetary tightening with the adverse effects on capital inflow to emerging markets economies.

On Atiku’s comment that if elected, he would review the country’s debt strategy by focusing on concessional and semi-concessional sources with lower interest rates and relatively long-term maturity, Mohammed also said that was already being done by the administration by maximising concessional borrowing from multilateral and bilateral sources.

In addition, new borrowing in the domestic and international capital markets would be for long tenors.
The minister added: “I don’t know of any country that does not borrow. What is important is what you are doing with the debt. You don’t borrow for frivolities and consumption but for projects”.

The minister derided Atiku for not saying anything new, noting that over 58 per cent of the country’s external debt stock as at March 31, 2022 was from multilateral and bilateral sources while short term domestic debt was less than 22 per cent of the total domestic debt stock as at the same date.
He said concessional loans were used construct the Lagos-Ibadan, the Abuja-Kaduna and the Warri-Itakpe and the ongoing rehabilitation of the Port-Harcourt-Maiduguri narrow gauge line.

Furthermore, he said same applies to the new airport terminals in Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Enugu and Port Harcourt.
He also faulted Atiku’s promise to propose legislation to give states the power to generate, transmit and distribute electricity.

Mohammed said the federal government launched ambitious Presidential Power Initiative to improve the seemingly-intractable power sector on which the PDP frittered over $16 billion to procure nothing but darkness.