PDP House Caucus Wants FG to Address Gates’ Concerns on Weak Economic Policies
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Caucus in the House of Representatives yesterday took a swipe at the All Progressives Congress ( APC)-led federal government, challenging it to respond to the recent concerns raised by American billionaire, Bill Gates over the lack of human face in the administration’s economic policies.
It said rather than diverting public attention with its usual deceit and propaganda, the Buhari-led administration should seriously heed the advice by the American billionaire by making life more meaningful for Nigerians who had waited endlessly to see the actualisation of APC’s campaign promises.
House Minority Leader, Hon. Leo Ogor, in a statement, noted that life had become “more unbearable” for even millions of those who voted for the ruling party in 2015.
The caucus said the federal government should gear up efforts and deliver on its numerous unfulfilled campaign promises to Nigerians.
The lawmakers, further berated the ruling party over its uncharitable use of the Chibok girls’ abduction during the 2015 political campaigns, adding that its current propaganda cannot help the party win the forthcoming 2019 general election.
The group also expressed regrets that Lagos residents were put into much discomfort during an APC jamboree for the commissioning of a bus terminal when the man they were celebrating had been responsible for truncating the $100 million modern metro line project started by the Jakande administration, and for which the state paid huge legal costs.
According to the caucus: “With fiendish mercilessness, APC’s 2015 campaign milked the unfortunate abduction of Chibok girls for every available ounce of propaganda and disinformation against the preceding administration; its campaign rhetoric and official hoopla from the lying minister had included freeing of the Chibok girl and achieving total defeat of Boko Haram insurgents.”
He said: “Today, the APC government nurses palpable fear over any scrutiny of its errors in Dapchi or its unusual generosity towards Boko Haram which it promised to defeat but now almost sees as a partner with which to share deep and befuddling confidence.”
Continuing, it added: “Although the APC government is known not to be a listening one, last Thursday, the Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mr. Bill Gates emphatically stated that the federal government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan was not reflective of the people’s needs.
“It is an open secret that under APC, Nigerians have fared worse on the misery index; those who were rich before are no longer investing, the poor are becoming poorer while almost thirty million Nigerians are either unemployed or under- employed.
“According to Bill Gates, the APC government’s concentration on physical infrastructure (and fat contracts) to the detriment of human capital development exposes the undesirable inadequacies in the health and education sectors.”
The group, quoting Gates, said: “The Nigerian government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan identifies investing in the people as one of three strategic objectives. But the execution priorities don’t fully reflect people’s needs, prioritising physical capital over human capital.