The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) of punishing Nigerians through its bad economic policies despite inheriting a vibrant economy on assumption of power.
In its New Year message to Nigerians issued in Abuja on Sunday, the opposition party lambasted the Muhammadu Buhari administration for causing economic recession with attendant consequences of hunger, starvation, insecurity among others.
The statement issued by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Prince Dayo Adeyeye on behalf of Senator Ahmed Makarfi and all organs of the PDP, charged Nigerians to work harder in the New Year and trust in their capacities to surmount the current economic condition in the country.
The statement said: “The bad policies of the APC-led government no doubt have occasioned this economic recession with its attendant consequences of extreme hardship, starvation, deprivation, insecurity and rise in ethnic, sectional and political agitations for self-determination.
“The ‘Transformation Agenda’ of the last PDP administration brought a lot of hope to Nigerians, the African sub region and our economy at large. Nigeria’s economy before handing over to the APC in May 2015 was declared the largest and the fastest growing in Africa (number 1) which is now nowhere near number 30. Why is that? Incompetence it is!
“It is no gainsaying that the PDP had better policies and programmes of reforming Nigeria’s economy to provide better living condition for its citizens’ well-being, which it did. We hope the government of the day changes its policies of high taxation with almost non-economic activity while providing palliatives in 2017 to reduce the effect of the recession, and the country will be better for it in the coming years.
“Against this backdrop, we again advise the APC-led administration in this Year 2017 to urgently employ the services of economic experts to put in place viable policies that will revamp our ailing economy. We are presently in recession because of significant decline in government business in both internal and external spheres. The Federal Government should increase money supply, cause rise in disposable income (spending) and decrease mindless taxations which have led to high inflation and multiple prices in money market.”