The Nation Is Dying Economically - CSOs Warn Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has been warned by a coalition of over 60 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) of the impending death of the Nigerian economy.

President Buhari has been warned of a decline in economic growth within the country.

The CSOs decried what they termed the “steady and continuous decline of the Nigerian economy” on the watch of President Buhari.

The call was made on Wednesday, 0ctober 28, at a strategy meeting they held in Abuja under the aegis of ‎the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room.

Members of the coalition include: the Policy and Legal Advocacy Center (PLAC), CLEEN Foundation, Action Aid Nigeria, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Enough is Enough Nigeria, Wangonet, Partners for Electoral Reform, JDPC and Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth & Advancement (YIAGA).

Others include: Development Dynamics, Human Rights Monitor, Election Monitor, Reclaim Naija, Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Centre LSD, CITAD, Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN), CISLAC, WREP and Proactive Gender Initiative.

At the meeting, the groups said there was an urgent need for President Buhari to create a sustainable economic plan that will attract foreign investors into ‎the country.

‎Clement Nwankwo, the leader of the coalition and executive director of PLAC, in his opening remarks said the “dwindling economic fortunes of Nigeria” could be a function of the inability of President Buhari to appoint his ministers until six months after he assumed office.

Nwankwo said: “The major challenge we are currently facing is that we cannot see the urgency of ‎this administration to improve the situation. It was unfortunate that after the six months that it took to come up with list of proposed Ministers, those we saw are those that have always been around the hood.

“Why it took so long to forward their names to the National Assembly is quite a puzzle to us.

“Why Ministers who have been cleared have not been sworn in is also a puzzle to us. We are almost in the first week of November. The laws are clear that government should have submitted its budget projections for 2016 by now.

“We would have thought that Ministers would have been around to help finalise budget for presentation to the National Assembly.

“Everyday we hear on social media that some people have returned money they stole from the treasury. The government should do well by telling us who they are, the amount returned and since the money is unanticipated, we should be told what it will be used for.

“So much information and misinformation is a major worry for us. We are desperately concerned to see the government begin to function”.

Vanguard reports that Nwankwo also faulted the current foreign exchange regime operating in the country, saying: “a person who is attune with modern day economics cannot recommend such”.

“We want to see change reflect in proper und‎erstanding of the Nigerian economy,” he said.

In the same vein, Dr Ayo Teriba, the chief executive officer of Economic Associates, noted in a paper entitled ‘Towards a Policy Framework For Economic Inclusion in Nigeria”, that President Buhari inherited so many economic problems from the past administration.

However, he maintained that “this regime should be quick, wake up and address the problems”.

He said: “Using six months just to share portfolios is not how to go about it. ‎Currently, there is fiscal disconnect. The revenue of the government has declined, relative to the Gross Domestic Product.

“Nigeria has the highest economy, yet the lowest revenue. The revenue has steadily declined. The revenue to GDP in 2014 was 11%, while 25% is what non oil producing economies like South Africa, Egypt ‎ and Morocco, have. Other countries like Angola and Algeria that have oil, have higher revenue level of 33%.

“Nigeria should have about 40% like it use to have in 2004. The reason for the decline is not that revenue are not collected, but the leak-out from ‎government processes, e.g, crude oil theft, subsidy fraud, wide spread abuse of administration of import duty and tax waivers, abuses by autonomous income revenue collecting agencies that spend what they collect as they wish, only remitting about 80% to the Federal Government.

“There is also the issue of sectorial ‎and regional exclusion. We currently have one of the worst unemployment rate in Africa. Our economy today compared to 1960 is weaker. Nigeria needs an orderly plan to raise revenue. There is need for this administration to not only stop the leakages, but to also institute periodic watch on impact of fiscal reforms on revenue inflows.

“The new regime should have told us the situation they met at least by May, and what has changed within the first quarter since it took over. It should tell us if there is no more crude oil theft.

“Currently Nigeria has not been attracting foreign investment, we urge this administration to make the economy more attractive. Steady currency regime is required to spur growth”, he said.

There have been questions regarding President Buhari’s stand on the establishment of a ministry for the economy.

Gowon Slams Biafra Agitators

Following the arrest of the Radio Biafra director and the recent agitation for a free and sovereign state of the Republic of Biafra, an elder statesman and former head of state, General Yakubu Gowon, has condemned the moves which he described as threat to Nigeria’s unity.

Gowon

General Gowon made this statement recently in reaction to the resent protests by some youths in various states over a secession bid adding that with Biafra, it is finished, Vanguard reports.

According to the general who was the head of state during the Nigerian civil war, Nigerians have put behind them the bad memories of the 1967 civil war.

He said that those behind these protests on Biafra do not have inkling about what the Biafra war cost Nigerians in the three years.

Gowon queried if those agitating for the independence of a Biafra nation want Nigeria to go to another war.

The general expressed hope that such would not happen adding that those involved in the campaign were being driven by just a few people and that majority of the Igbo people do not share the same view.

He said: “It is only them, the few that are there but the majority of the Igbo people that I know are not with them.”

The elder statement agreed with the fact that the protesters have the right to express their feelings but noted that with Biafra it is finished.

He said: “let them say their views, yes it democracy but let s make sure they can express their wishes and desires but let them remember with Biafra it is finished. It is not a threat.

“All I did is not as a result of hatred against the Igbos but on the principle of keeping Nigeria one and this is all we are trying to do and that was why at the end of the war in other to see that there is no heard feeling we used the term no victor no vanquished

“I have said if there is anything of this sort anywhere in any part of the country just like the problem of Boko Haram we should deal with it; Nigeria should deal with it in a matured way.”

He stressed that keeping Nigeria one was what Odumegwu Ojukwu also stood for.

Why Boko Haram Increased Its Attacks - APC

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has condoled with the government and people of Borno and Adamawa states over the deadly attacks that left many dead and injured in the two states.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Saturday October 24 by its national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said while even the loss of one life is too much to bear, the government and people of the states should take solace in the fact that the attacks will not endure, because of the stepped-up campaign by the nation’s gallant soldiers.

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter

Alhaji Lai Mohammed

“The spike in the attacks in recent times is a direct reflection of the huge successes by the military in flushing the Boko Haram terrorists out of their strongholds and putting them on the run. 

“With no fortress to call their own any more, having being smoked out of Sambisa Forest and removed from their ‘caliphates’, they have resorted to these cowardly attacks aimed at soft targets.

“But grim as the situation may seem at the moment, these cowardly attacks will taper off sooner than later, because suicide bombings are not sustainable, and because of the unrelenting campaign by our military,” it said.

APC said having realized that it is doomed, Boko Haram has now dispersed into the population, hence the need for all citizens, especially in the worst-hit areas, to be extra vigilant.

“It used to be that Boko Haram terrorists will easily slip across the border to neighbouring countries after carrying out deadly and spectacular attacks in Nigeria. 

“Now, they have not only lost their ability to carry out spectacular attacks, they are also unable to slip across the border, after being increasingly hemmed-in by regional forces. 

“Their days are numbered. Boko Haram is domed,” the party said.

APC Pays Condolence Visit To The Alamieyeseigha Family

The Bayelsa state chapter of the All Progressive Congress (APC) paid a condolence visit to members of the Alamieyeseigha family at their Yenagoa home on Friday, October 23.

Diepreye Alamieyeseigha

National Mirror reports that during their visit the leadership of the party said that those who were regarded as Alamieyeseigha’s best friends were actually his worst enemies.

Chief Tiwei Orunmighe, the state chairman of the party, who led the delegation, stressed that the first civilian governor of Bayelsa impacted positively in the state, the Ijaw Nation and Nigeria in particular.

According to him, younger generation of the Ijaw youths should live by the legacies that have been left behind by Alameiseighaare.

“We are actually celebrating, we are not mourning, and this is not the moment to mourn, Alamieyeseigha remains a hero to the Ijaw people. He was indeed a realist, he stood for the Ijaw people, but the love he showed his people was returned in betrayal.

“The same people accusing the APC and the British government of conspiracy in his death, was the same people that protested carrying casket in Yenagoa against him, impeached him without investigations of the alleged crimes and now they want to tell the people they love him for the sake of politics.

“That betrayal, humiliation and dent is the wound that never healed, which he tried to pretend all was well till death took him away, a vacuum have been created and the Ijaw nation will do everything to fill it,” he said.

Orunmighe added that all people of the state should go down on their knees and thank God for the life of the deceased.

The APC prayed God to grant the wife and family the courage to keep the family together and his legacies.

Akpoebi Alamieyeseigha, the commissioner of transport, who spoke on behalf of the family, said that the members of the family are experiencing the most difficult period in their lives as the man everyone knew and called was no more with them.

He described the death of the ex-governor as a personal lost to him, saying that the deceased was not just like anyone to him but an elder brother.