PARIS, OCTOBER 29, 2016: FORMER Minsiter of National Planning, Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi, has declared that Buhari is ignorant and therefore has no clue to handle economic matters or solve the current economic challenges.
He made the disclosure in an interview with the Punch Newspapers.
In the interview , the former covered a wide range of issues among which is the current economic recession ravaging Nigeria.
Responding to questions , he said he had long expected the current recession to take place before now but by a twist of fate , it did not happen and therefore blamed the situation on Buhari's inability to navigate through the 'stormy waters'
Below is an abridged version of the interview with The Punch newspapers:
Excerpts:
Were you surprised when it was officially declared by the Federal Government that Nigeria is in recession?
No, I was not surprised. It had to happen but it was a question of when it would happen. It was meant to have come a long time ago.
Why were you not surprised?
I was not surprised because before Buhari’s regime, we had anticipated that the recession would come. It was something that was anticipated but what did we do? There was a feeling that somehow it would not happen and we would be able to weather the storm but that was not the case. Poor mother Africa was hopeful that the cross would pass over us but it did not seem to be so. There was a feeling that Olusegun Obasanjo could have averted such a situation if it happened during his time.
In what way do you feel Obasanjo could have averted the recession we are currently facing?
Baba Obasanjo in a way had this magical capability but it is a shame he could not bring things about. When we talk about the awful turning point in the economy, I don’t think Buhari can do anything about it, to be frank.
But what do you think brought about the recession Nigeria is currently facing?
I really cannot say what caused it but what I know is that it was meant to have hit Nigeria a long time ago. I need to think a lot about it.
The government has said that the pains of the current recession would not have been severely felt if Nigeria had been saving. Do you agree with them?
It is not just a question of Nigeria saving, we were not totally prepared. I think we threw caution to the wind. Look at what happened to some other nations of the world, they had been through this but they weathered the storm. I think Nigerians thought the world owed us a meal, they believed the world owed us a living.
Some people have opined that the government should spend more on capital development in order to get us out of this recession; others have argued that government should borrow money. What do you think government should do?
What do we need to do? I am frightened, but I believe we do not need to shrink the economy yet again. I really don’t know what the government can do and that has frightened me greatly in the past 24 hours but we don’t need to shrink the economy. I wonder why we believe we need to shrink the economy. I think we should review what has happened in the last four years and open up the economy. We should let the great, the good, and the gullible people of our various spokespersons in the president’s cabinet to start talking in terms of what is happening. I think we should talk a lot now.
Are you saying that Buhari’s cabinet members are not vocal enough about the current economic reality in Nigeria?
They are frightened. They are so frightened by the current situation and they fear for their lives. I think they believe that we may not be able to weather the storm. If we experience another period of drought in this country, we would be in trouble.
When you say trouble, what should Nigerians be expecting that is worse than this?
If we are not able to bring in investors, then we would face the drought. I have noticed that there have been drought in some parts of the country and we don’t want it to be a generalised thing. Let’s hope that there would be no shortage in the land.
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