Garba Shehu, presidential
spokesman, says President Muhammadu Buhari remains the best person to prevent
the Nigerian economy from collapsing.
Shehu was reacting to an
accusation by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that Buhari is ruining the
nation’s economy by leading it to be the world’s poverty capital.
The opposition party also accused
the president of holding Nigerians hostage.
But Shehu, in a statement issued
on Wednesday, argued that while there was less economic activity during the
electoral cycle, current reports on the pages of newspapers show that there is
improved business activity in the country.
“While foreign direct investment
can help, it is not the only source of investment in the economy. There is also
domestic investment which is either undertaken by the government or by the
private sector,” Shehu said.
“It is also noteworthy that
capital importation into Nigeria grew by 216 percent in the first quarter of
2019 as compared to the last quarter of 2018.
“A look at business pages in
newspapers shows that there is a lot of business activity going on in the
country.
“Two stories in today’s paper
point to increasing economic activity.
“First is that the profit of UACN
grew in the first half of this year by 61 per cent.
“Second is that Business Day
(pg1) states that cargo imports jumped by 21 per cent in the first half of
2019. Increasing imports is a pointer to greater economic activity and the
availability of foreign exchange with which to conduct business.”
Shehu said that in Buhari’s first
four years, he improved relations with China, US and Europe and had won their
support for the administration’s development agenda.
He also said the president
“channeled unprecedented sums of money” into infrastructure development, adding
that capital spending had been kept at about 30 percent of annual budgets.
“Construction of roads, highways,
public transport and airports have sharply increased. Government is spending
heavily on power,” he said.
“This, combined with private
sector investment has grown generation capacity to 13 megawatts.
“All said and done, President
Buhari remains the best hope for the Nigerian economy. The country needs change
and this remains the person with the will and determination to deliver.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com