2019: Nigeria in need of liberalised economy, not restructuring ― Nwachukwu

A presidential aspirant on the platform of All Grassroots Alliance (AGA), Mr Chuks Nwachukwu, said at the weekend that Nigeria is in dire need of economic, political, social and mental liberation rather than restructuring to make it achieve dreams of its founding fathers.

This is just as the presidential aspirant sadly recalled that the country’s economic prosperity process was aborted between 1985 and 1986 when the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) what he termed the “ruinous policy of fake; make belief purchase of our foreign exchange (forex) earnings for sale by auction.”

Nwachukwu said this in Lagos while officially declaring his ambition to contest against President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 President Election, just as he assured that he would discard the old and existing order of doing things by ensuring that the country moved from the government-led economy to people led economy.

According to him, the new order to be pursued if elected, come 2019 will be to jettison a system whereby politicians promoted themselves at the expense of the people, declaring that it is quality of education, hospitals and youths employment that make a nation.

“We would liberate the economy by transferring power from government-led economy to people led economy. We have politicians who promoted themselves at the expense of the people. It is the quality of our education, hospitals and youth employment that make a nation. How can you tell another commander-in-chief that the people killing your people are from Libya?” he said.

“They have told lies about building the economy. Our economic prosperity process was aborted between 1985 and 1986 when our Central Bank developed the ruinous policy of fake; make belief purchase of our foreign exchange (forex) earnings for sale by auction.

“The Central Bank did not purchase any forex because it did not pay any naira from its vaults. CBN simply credited the accounts of the Federal and state governments with naira that did not exist,” Nwachukwu said.

The AGA chieftain, a lawyer by profession, while saying that his party was established on core values of integrity, handwork, accountability and courage, while other political parties consisted of recycled politicians, who relished in nepotism and corruption, further lamented that “political organizational development in the country has so far been along the same colonial path of drawing hard artificial lines and creating artificial administrative structures which we now call states and local governments.”

This, he said had given rise to ethnic identities being cast and expressed in negative and serving only as a platform for the elite to compete for patronage in government and government entities.

“All Grassroots Alliance (AGA) was established on core values of integrity, handwork, accountability and courage. All other political parties are recycled politicians. They operate on nepotism and corruption.

“Our political organizational development has so far been along the same colonial path of drawing hard artificial lines and creating artificial administrative structures which we now call states and local governments.

“The result is that ethnic identities have been cast and expressed in negative, serving only as a platform for the elite to compete for patronage in government and government entities,” he said.