‘ Economy collapsing under your watch,’ Yoruba group tells Buhari
ASOUTH- WEST group, Yoruba Ronu Leadership Forum, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to come to terms with the stark reality that the economy is collapsing under his watch.
In a statement, yesterday, President of the Forum, Mr. Akin Malaolu, said the Buhari Presidency, in all honesty, had failed and any attempt to remedy the condition of things might become too late “if the President should insist on moving the nation with his present wrong hands.”
The statement reads: “Following the end of the two- day mid- term ministerial performance review retreat held in Abuja and the feedback of assurances given by the President to his ministers and others at the outing, the forum noticed the existence of poor understanding of the precarious conditions the ruling All Progressives Congress ( APC)- led government has thrown the nation and the general masses into.
“The explanations offered by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, on the condition of the naira in our estimation showed his poor understanding of why Nigerian economy is not improving the lots of citizens. While economic policies are nearing their state of collapse and with no quick fix solutions in sight and the President’s vague instructions to his several appointees also added to the nation’s tragedies. On these staccato of voices, we are greatly disappointed.”
The forum added that the grim situation, which the nation now faces, are firstly, the value of the naira, which like all commodities, are determined by demand and supply and has no backup to encourage its value because too much naira are chasing fewer goods and piling pressure on the foreign exchange earnings that is also in short supply.
“Secondly, the economy is now being funded by budget deficit, which means Nigeria is spending far more than what she is earning and the two ways adopted by Buhari/ Osinbajo government are printing naira locally and borrowing, which now puts pressure on the little foreign exchange we have,” the group said.
The forum said the way forward is to encourage productivity in all sectors, fight insecurity to a standstill and move the people back to farming and mining activities.