Minister of Information Lai Mohammed has asked Nigerians to blame the last administration for the continued fall of the Naira and the current state of the economy. Lai Mohammed stated this in statement he released yeterday December 13th. According to him, some members of the former ruling party turned the CBN into their ATM or piggy banks. He said if the party had won the Presidential election, Nigerians economy would not have survived one more month …
“Some people still have the temerity to insult a government that is working hard to turn things around for the citizens, who are bearing the brunt of such mismanagement. It is now clear to all Nigerians that if the PDP had won the last general elections, Nigeria’s economy would not have survived one more month, considering the battering it received under the immediate past Administration. It is therefore unconscionable that those who should show contrition and humility to avoid public disgrace are the same ones pointing accusing fingers at the Buhari Administration.”he said
Lai Mohammed described the comments credited to the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu which stated that ‘businesses may collapse in the next six months because the Buhari Administration has mismanaged the economy’ as the clearest indication that the PDP and its leaders are still in denial of the massive destruction they inflicted on the Nigerian economy. According to him, Ike Ekweremadu (Senator) complained about the depreciation of the naira without telling Nigerians, who ‘dollarized’ the Nigerian economy by bribing many individuals and groups with dollars during the last elections, thereby causing a downward drift on the local currency.
Lai added that the Senate deputy President failed to tell Nigerians which government presided over the frenzied mop-up of dollars, either for ‘arms – gate’ or for slush fund purposes from the CBN to a point where it almost ran out of the hard currency.
He said that though the Buhari Administration met an economy that was in coma, it has refused to use that as an excuse for inaction, hence has been working hard on measures that will turn the economy around and greatly offer relief to Nigerians by lifting millions, not thousands of people out of poverty through a massive social intervention policy.
He further noted that the outcome of the months of hard work will manifest soon in the 2016 national budget that will give succor to millions of Nigerians, who are reeling from the fallout of the mistake of the immediate past Administration which has turned the country into a cash market.
”They are lucky that Nigerians are not as reckless as they are, otherwise they would not be able to walk around freely; not even to have the confidence challenge the Government which inherited their rot or the citizens suffering the consequences. They looted the billions of naira that were allocated for the fight against insurgency, causing many innocent and patriotic soldiers to die needlessly. Yet, they are not remorseful. They looted the treasury to influence the last elections, doling out money as if it was going out of fashion, yet they have continued in brag. In the latest revelation, a Minister under the immediate past dispensation admitted to sharing 600 million naira to six Chairmen of the Contact and Mobilization Committee of the PDP for the last general elections, 300 million naira to an account given by a former PDP Chairman, 200 million naira to a PDP governorship candidate and 100 million naira to a former PDP Governor. This is just one case out of many, yet these revelations are but a tip of the iceberg of what Nigerians will hear in the days ahead.”he added