Ex-president Goodluck Jonathan
says Nigeria’s economy slipped into recession after he left office because the
then opposition used “their malicious propaganda” to tear the country’s economy
into shreds.
Jonathan said this in his book
entitled ‘My Transition Hours’.
The major opposition in the
build-up to the 2015 election was the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The party is a merger of three
political parties; Congress of Progressives Change (CPC), Action Congress of
Nigeria (ACN) and All Nigerians Peoples Party (ANPP).
In the book, Jonathan said rather
than consolidate on what his government had achieved, the APC administration
went on “persecution spree”.
The former president said the
narrative of inheriting an empty treasury is false.
“Recall that the opposition and
their sympathisers and campaigners, both local and international, with their
malicious propaganda, tore our economy to shreds, threatened our stability and
existence as a nation and intimidated our citizens, all in the bid to take over
power,” he wrote.
“Rather than forge a coalition
and build on the momentum we had gathered when they eventually took office,
they went on a persecution spree and vengeance mission. That the country slipped
into recession soon after we left office was a self-inflicted injury caused by
misplaced priorities. The narrative of inheriting empty treasury is a blatant
lie.
“Also, the excuse of the collapse
of world crude prices does not hold water. This is because the Fourth Republic
took off in 1999 with crude oil selling for less than $20 per barrel and a
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth at 0.58 per cent, according to National
Bureau of Statistics (NBS) figures. Yet, the economy maintained a steady growth
from that year, peaking at 15.33 per cent in 2002 when the average crude oil
price was about $25.
“It is also instructive that the
oil and gas sector constitute about 11 per cent of our GDP. There had to be a
wider causative factor than just the fall in world crude prices.
“It also amounts to standing
facts on their heads to continuously claim that recession was caused by
so-called mindless looting. The truth is that the opposition, in a bid to undo
our government, became its own undoing when it got to power, because of the
burden of justifying deliberate misrepresentations.
“There is wisdom in the saying
that if you win a prize and get the crown, don’t go around destroying the
person who previously held that prize; it will lose its value.
“Even after winning the election
and forming the government at the centre, the blame game continued. When two
brothers fight to death, it is the neighbour that inherits their father’s
wealth. And we have seen neigbouring nations like the Republic of Benin and
Ghana reaping from the capital flight out of Nigeria.”
He said with the calibre of
people he had in his government, no one could say they were clueless.
“Just consider that my minister
of state for health, Dr. Muhammed Ali Pate, is now a professor at America’s
Duke University, as well as a Senior Adviser to the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation based in Washington DC. My minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwunmi
Adesina, is now the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB),” Jonathan
wrote.
“My Co-ordinating minister, Mrs.
Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, is the chairperson of the Board of the Global Alliance for
Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) and the African Risk Capacity (ARC). She also
sits on the board of Twitter and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, just
as she is a Senior Adviser at Lazard and a Director at Standard Chartered Plc
in the United Kingdom, amongst others.
“My minister of communication
technology, Dr. Omobola Johnson, is currently chairperson of custodian and
Allied Insurance Limited as well as the Global Alliance for Affordable
Internet. And it is not just members of my cabinet. Others who served with me
in different capacities are also soaring on the world stage.
“A good example is Ms. Arunma
Oteh, who I appointed the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange
Commissnon (SEC). Under her steady and skillful direction, Nigeria’s equity
market grew in metric proportions, and by the time I left office in 2015, the
market had tripled in size to $150 billion in value. Two months after I left
office, Ms. Oteh was appointed a Vice-President and Treasurer at the World
Bank.
“With such personalities on my
cabinet, no one can factually say we were ‘clueless’ or inept. The evidence of
performance is simply overwhelming. We gave Nigeria an impressive and steady
GDP growth rate at 6.7 percent per
annum.
“We were officially cited as the
third fastest growing economy in the world by CNN Money in 2014. We eradicated
polio and guinea worm and became the first nation in the world to defeat the
Ebola virus, such that the then richest man in the world, Bill Gates celebrated
us for our prowess in the health sector. We reduced our food import bill by 36
percent.”
The former president said he is
working towards advancing the course of democracy and good governance in
Nigeria, Africa and the rest of the world through the Goodluck Jonathan
Foundation (GJF).
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Jonathan is delusional������
ReplyDeleteTell them. Nigerians don't value what they have now we have a clueless impostor president and clueless ministers.
ReplyDelete