By John Ikani
Opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said 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, is an indictment on the All Progressives Congress, APC-led government of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The PDP asserted that the declaration by Sanusi directly reflected the position of the majority of Nigerians across the country.
Noting that the dire situation is now beyond politics, the PDP in a statement by its spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan, called on Nigerians to speak up “irrespective of ethnicity, creed, and political party affiliations, so as to save the nation from a total collapse.”
The statement read: “The Buhari Presidency and the APC have in the last six years, only succeeded 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.
“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 Produce (GDP) of $574 billion to President Buhari and the APC in May 2015.
“Sadly, in the last six years, the 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 gains 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 litre 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.”
