Blame game continues as Presidency swipes Goodluck Jonathan

The President
Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has continued its war of words with former
President Goodluck Jonathan on how the former plunged the Nigerian economy into
recession.

In reaction
to recent comments by Jonathan, insisting that he left the economy better than
what the Buhari administration claimed, Senior Special Assistant on Media and
Publicity to President Buhari, Malam Garba Shehu, has accused Jonathan of being
responsible for “wiping” the nation’s treasury, insisting that there’s nothing
to show for the revenues earned in the last administration.

“If PDP
were still in power, they would have continued deceiving people, by borrowing
to fund, stealing and wastage and the problem would have simply been postponed
for future generations to face. With oil prices as high as 120 dollars, the
average inflow of dollars each month was high, making it easy to support cheap
dollars.

“Jonathan
was responsible for wiping the nation’s treasury during his time in office. The
current administration inherited an economy that was ravaged by corruption and
mismanagement.

“Jonathan
presided over the most monumental and tragic economic mismanagement recorded in
Nigeria’s history. The oil sector boomed under his tenure, with oil prices as
high as 120 dollars and peace in the Niger Delta. Nigeria earned unprecedented
dollar revenues. Sadly, that is where the story turns sour.

“There is
nothing to show for the revenues earned; no major capital project was
completed, neither was there power generation, road development, rail nor
agriculture benefited from the windfall earnings. Rather, the administration
presided over the diversion of oil revenues on such a massive scale that even
without the protection now accorded to whistleblowers, the then Central Bank
governor blew not only a whistle but a trumpet.

“He was
hurriedly shown the door. Indeed, the president once celebrated having the
largest number of private jets, whilst our youths languished without jobs, our
fields stood idle and our factories began the layoff of workers.”

Shehu
added that “Jonathan’s administration simply reticulated oil revenue through
“personal spending by corrupt leaders, wasteful expenses and salaries. Such was
the looting that even the goose that was laying the golden egg was being systematically
starved. It was only ‘aggressive’ borrowing by the then Ministry of Finance
that prevented the federal government from also owing salaries as it was the
case in 21 states.

“When
Buhari took over power in 2015, he inherited an accumulated debt and that all
the factors were building up to Nigeria heading for a major crisis if the price
of oil fell. Nigeria did not have fiscal buffers to withstand an oil shock. Nigeria
earned a lot of money when oil prices were high, but there is nothing to show
for it.

“Now, oil
prices have fallen; we are suffering. We would not be suffering now if we had no
cash reserves but we had power, or a rail system, or good roads, or good
housing, but we don’t have money and we don’t have the projects either.

“Now, that
the oil has fallen below those levels, it is very difficult to do what is
needed but they must be done to save Nigeria. There is no other way if we want
to be honest.

“However,
with oil price plummeting as low as 28 dollars, the fundamental laws of supply
and demand dictated that the currency would need to adjust since oil was the
sole export. It is instructive to note that virtually every major oil exporter
has witnessed currency adjustments with the fall in oil price,” he said.