The biggest Political and Economic issues in Nigeria to day is the issue of Recession. Recession itself means that the contraption of the Nations Economy for two quarters. A lot of reasons had been attributed to this. The All Progressives Congress [APC] government of President Muhammadu Buhari has tried to exonerate itself from the leading the country to recession, a country that ones taunted itself as the Largest Economy in Africa. Many have also forgotten that Nigeria was once voted as the happiest people on Earth. The reasons given by the government for the recession in the country include fall in the price of crude oil, crisis in the Niger Delta that has resulted in the bursting of oil pipelines and the inability of the past administration of President Goodluck Jonathan to save for the raining day. The Minister of Information and National Orientation stated this much during the 2016 12th All Nigeria Editor’s Conference in Port Harcourt the Rivers state capital recently.
The Minister said Nigeria lost over 60 percent of earnings due to crash in oil revenue. He however said despite the crash in oil revenue due to fall in the price of crude ‘other OPEC members are fairing better due to the fact that they were able to save for the raining day’.
The President himself said he inherited nothing from the last Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] administration. During the 2016 Eid El Maulud celebration in his country home in Daura, Katsina state the President said he inherited no road, no railway, no Education, no school, no Economy, no Security. He had said earlier that he met an empty treasury.
Many Nigerians however blamed President Buhari’s style of Administration for the for the recession Nigeria is going through. This is because the President spent his first one year into his administration touring Europe and America and telling the world how corrupt Nigeria is. Since no serious minded business person will ever want to do business with corrupt people especially people whose high corruption level was even confirmed by their President. The aftermath of this is that while new investors were reluctant to come and invest, those all ready on ground had to leave.
Nigeria former Minister of Education Oby Ezekwesili blamed President Muhammad Buhari for the current Economic recession.
Ezekwesisli former Vice President World Bank stated in a whatsApp message ‘ I still find it funny that most people don’t know why Nigeria economy went into recession. They love the incompetent lies of Lai Mohammed about the past government ruining everything. Its also myopic to think that if Jonathan were to still be in power, we would be worse off’.
‘the truth about Nigeria’s recession is this, it was caused by the President’s unguided rhetoric and uncultured body language.”
‘firstly there is nothing we are buying today that we weren’t buying five years ago, therefore it is not our purchase that pressure on the naira but by withdrawal of funds by foreign investors. After the election, the President created instability with his statements about how everyone is corrupt and how every one is going to jail. The instability made foreign investors to liquidate their investment and change their money to dollars. In the process of trying to flee, they were willing to buy dollars at any price , which lead to high exchange dollar rise.’
She said ‘even though some of them were not ready to run away but want their money in dollars to save their investments from devaluation, the President gave a bad signal by banning deposits of foreign currency into domiciliary accounts.’
In a recent interview the Minister of National Planning Senator Udoma Udo Udoma stated that the crash in the price of crude in the International market was made worse by the bursting of oil pipelines by the Militants in the Niger Delta. He said before the commencement of Buhari’s administration the country was producing 2.2million barrels of oil daily but regretted that with the attack on oil pipelines by militants in the Niger Delta the country was only able to half of that. President Buhari himself is the cause of this.. shortly after he was sworn in 2015 he had told foreign journalists in an interview that he would not run an all inclusive administration, pointing out that he would concentrate on the area that gave him 95 percent of his votes. What the President told the world was that even though 90 percent of the resources of the country is coming from oil situated in the Niger Delta area, he would not pay attention to them because they did not vote for him. So it could be said that the activities of the Niger Delta Avengers and other militancy groups in the Region was to remind the President, in case he has forgotten, that the resources he would use while in office as President is not only meant for all Nigerians but that indeed it was coming from the Regions that did not vote for him and as such he cannot afford to ignore the Region.
The truth of the matter is that the current hardship being experienced in the country is really not new, it was been expected. The fight sign of the things to happen this year was first exposed by the Emir of Kano Sanusi Lamido Sanusi who warned Nigerians that President Buhari administration will take a tough decision that will be painful in 2016. The Emir stated this in Benin in 2015 at a special convocation ceremony for the installation of his Royal Highness Mai Martaba Sarkin Kano Muhammadu Sanusi as the Chancellor of the University of Benin.
The Chancellor of the University of Benin and the Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi while congratulating the graduands enjoined them to always contribute their quota to National development.
He said President Muhammadu Buhari is determined to give the country a new lease of life but said the crash in oil price at global level is affecting the economy of the country.
He said government must make a difficult decision in the year’s ahead while enjoining Nigerians to be ready to make sacrifices. He said the development of Education in the country must not be left to government alone.
At the occasion President Muhammadu Buhari has said his administration will not fold its alms and watch people mismanage resources of the Universities.
The President stated this in Benin the Edo state capital at a special convocation ceremony for the installation of his Royal Highness Mai Martaba Sarkin Kano Muhammadu Sanusi as the Chancellor of the University of Benin.
The President who was represented by the Minister of Education Alhaji Adamu Adamu said all those who had mismanaged Resources in the Education sector especially tertiary Education will not go unpunished said ‘as we block leakages and wastage perpetrators must be punished’.
He said the fight against corruption must begin at the higher institutions where characters are molded for future leaders.
He said in the fight against corruption respect for the rule of law must not be compromised.
He said his administration will continue to fund Education to bring it at level with International standards.
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT MUST DO TO EXIT NIGERIA FROM RECESSION.
There has been many suggestions as to how to exit the country from the recession we currently find ourselves. First we have to fight economic recession the way we fought EBOLA.
PRESIDENT BUHARI TASKED UNIVERSITIES ON RESEARCH
President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday tasked Nigerian universities on research breakthrough to accelerate national growth and development.
Buhari gave the task in a message to the 38th convocation ceremony of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria.
Represented by Prof. Akanerem Essien of the National Universities’ Commission (NUC), the President also said Nigeria would not achieve greatness until “education is highly funded.”
He disclosed that the Federal Government, through TEDFUND, had established “institution based research and national research fund” to resuscitate research activities in Nigerian universities.
He, however, lamented that much of the funds were yet to be accessed by the nation’s public universities.
The President called on the universities to put in place tangible proposals for the purposes of research breakthrough that would make remarkable impact on national development.
He noted that ABU had in the past made remarkable progress in research on agriculture, extension services and livestock improvement through breeding.
“These activities must be resuscitated for increased food production especially at this point in time when government has step-up plan aimed at diversification of the economy with agriculture in the front burner.
“This government will harness available resources from the universities to achieve the desired goal for national development,” he said.