Direct your anger to the right quarters, Shehu tells Nigerians
Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, says Nigerians are right to be disappointed on the state of the economy, but that they should direct their anger to the “right quarters”.
In a piece entitled: ‘What is President Buhari doing with the economy?’, Shehu attributed the poor situation of things to years of mismanagement and corruption.
He advised the people to “keep a fiery memory of the past” in order to avoid repeating mistakes.
“Nigerians are right to be disappointed but they must direct their anger at the right quarters. The bad management and corruption of the past are firmly to blame,” he wrote.
“People are still talking about who ran governments in 1865, you want us to forget those who left government last year?
“Let us keep a fiery memory of the past so that we don’t repeat its mistakes. Look back, look ahead. The future must of necessity be built on the foundations of the past,” he said.
“To avoid repeating the past mistakes, Nigerians must come to terms with what went wrong with the past, how bad were things, what was done wrongly, what the past government should have done, before we come to what needs to be done to right those wrongs.
“Believe me, episodes from the Jonathan era can fill books, and other possibilities such as courtroom drama thriller.”
Shehu said in addition to failure to spend money on what was needed by past governments, no savings was made.
“As explained by President Buhari again and again, trumpeted by Madam Adeosun and other senior officials, we solely relied on oil, the price of which was as high as US$140 per barrel,” he wrote.
“Government simply reticulated oil revenue through personal spending by corrupt leaders, wasteful expenses and salaries. This was done rather than investing in what would grow the economy.
“Economies grow due to capital investment in assets like seaports, airports, power plants, railways, roads and housing. Nigeria has not recorded a single major infrastructural project in the last 10 years. In short, the money was mismanaged.”
The presidential spokesman explained that by the time the Buhari administration took over power in May 2015, the country’s debt had accumulated to a level it was before the Paris Club debt forgiveness.
He said in the bid to resuscitate the economy, Buhari’s government flagged off its anti-corruption fight.
“No government has ever considered the poor like this one. Under the current budget, the administration devoted N500Bn for social intervention programmes for those who need and deserve support,” Shehu said.
“There are also programmes for affordable housing with mortgages which will transform thousands from tenant status to home ownership.
“Any process that will endure, must involve some pain but things will begin to improve. There is always a time lag between policy and effect. That is why the bad effects of past policies are manifesting now.”
Tired of hearing rubbish from failed guys like you. You have absolutely nothing to offer this country and therefore you guys should bury your faces in shame. When capable hands come into power you will see how the economy will grow.
That’s a daft comment that someone like you can post. The reality of Nigeria economy is that the past governments have totally ruined it. During the financial meltdown in the Europe and world wide impact of it, it has taken more than 8 years for the UK to begin to recover from the situation. Everyone in UK feel it particularly the public sector which unfortunately have to fund the deficit and they have less than 2% increase annually. Conservation blamed the problem mostly on Labour government for not handling the situation for the 5 years of Coaliton government.
The problem with people like yourself is that you have short memory and always want magic to happen. No one in Nigeria wants to feel the pain when the economy has been driven to the ground, elsewhere in the world it is everyone’s business to make sacrifice to bring the economy back. The economy needs restructuring and proper foundation. You are now saying that the ecoonmy that has been run aground for the past 16 years can be fixed in less than 2 years.
Take an example, if your building collapsed today, tell me how long will it take you to rebuild even if you have the money at your disposal (which Nigeria government has not got). Added to this problem is the Niger Delta Avengers that are destroying the main source of revenue for the government,again to you that is no issue. I really hate people that simply play tribal cards and not view the issue at hand critically.
As I have stated elsewhere, talk and criticsm is cheap.
– how about you list out how you will approach the economy
– how you will fund your infrastructure, and develop the economy in the short term say 2 years and future years
– source of funding given that most of your country earning is from oil and the impact of NDA
-how you will fight corruption
Rather than criticising without given options I think it is futile.
Should i call you stupid or dumb? Did you even read the article? You Nigerians continue to amaze me, do you think that the cost of problem with the country started last year? It been 16 years of mismanagement. When Fashola was restructuring Lagos people complained and condemned his government. But look at the state today…… It’s on the path to been a mega city if not one already. So stop been centimental, read, digest and understand the problem with the country before you judge.
do i call u dumb?16 years of mismanagement? seriously? its been mismanagement from all our past leaders both military & civilians. if we start the blame game trust me it will never end.
As for corruption and mismanagment,my question to our self-acclaimed patriots,
saints and lovers of their country, Nigeria, who have routinely been at
the helm of affairs of this country, is how did it happen that a country
that had generated a totaled $340 billion in oil exports since the
1970s, being successively run by its patriots of highest competence, who
dearly loved and cherished their country, has today nothing to show for
it?
This is notwithstanding to the report according to the Executive
Director of United Nations Office on Drug and Crime, UNODC, Dr. Antonio
Maria Costa, who confirmed that a staggering sum of $400 billion was
estimated to have been stolen and stashed abroad by corrupt Nigerian
leaders between 1960 and 1999
As inevitability shows now that we are gradually going our seperate ways, Institute an audit of the National treasury for the past 56 years of the Nations existence and heads will role, otherwise nobody among our self accaimed saints has any moral right to accuse the other of corruption.
But for the records do not think that i am protecting anybody. Nigerian Citizens deserves total answer to their impoverishment by the best of their self acclaimed patriots.Thanks
Do you want me to believe there is no corruption in Buhari administration? Why are we running to China for answers to our roads and railway? We have to fight corruption at the grassroots as well. If you still a penny, you need to be prosecuted. We need to stop soldiers from acting like they are above the law . The law enforcement are police and police need to be trained and citizens need to know that they cannot take laws into their hands.