President Buhari at the weekend enunciated the gains in the economic sector, particularly the agriculture which he noted was as a result of concerted efforts by his administration to diversify the economy from its present mono-cultural status.
But speaking with Nigerian Tribune, the duo of Mallam Tanko Yakasaai and former federal lawmaker in the second republic, Dr Junaid Mohammed expressed reservations over President Buhari’s declaration that his administration has made tremendous strides towards economic recovery.
Mallam Yakassai said it was up to Nigerians, whom he noted were at the receiving end of the present economic situation to either applaud or condemn the claims enunciated in the weekend broadcast.
He said: “Well, since independence to date, each government lay claim of its achievements; it is up to the people living under that government to testify whether what they say is true or not and I believe generality of Nigerian people are in a position to assess the achievements the president articulated and to make up their minds whether they are correct or not.
“As to his position that the agitation for restructuring is intended to destroy the unity of the country, he seems to have some concern on the way the agitators were going about. You remember those who started the agitation started by attacking the very foundation of the existence of Nigeria; that’s our constitution—the 1999 constitution which is said to be a replica of 1979 constitution. So, if somebody is trying to destroy your foundation, you don’t need anybody to tell you that he is trying to destroy you.”
In his own contribution, Dr Mohammed dismissed the submission by President Buhari that his administration commitment to diversification stimulated growth in the agricultural sector.
The former federal lawmaker claimed that country’s farmers should attribute the upsurge in agriculture produce to a divine blessing from God who has blessed the nation with enormous rainfall this year. He equally dismissed claim that financial institutions like the apex bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN) have assisted farmers to encourage robust production and diversification of the economy.
“I believe we should factor in the fact that recession itself has reached a level, its nadir and there is the possibility of the economy picking up and of course, perhaps it filtered down into the national economy and you see some improvement in the welfare of the people.
“But I don’t believe he can claim responsibility for this in any way, the upward improvement in the economy. For the agriculture sector, long neglected, in the last two years found a bailout because we have had very good rainfall. That’s very responsible for the upsurge in agricultural productivity.
“So, as far as I am concerned, it is only God that can claim credit for this, not Buhari or any member of his cabinet. The fact that we have had some divine intervention, divine bailout shows clearly that the government has no focus, no forward march.
“The diversification of the economy which this administration has been touting in terms of concrete investment policies, to me hasn’t generated anything. What has been happening is that this government allows the CBN to be playing Russian roulette with our economy. What we have been doing is to speculate with the foreign currencies and that hasn’t changed.”
Dr Mohammed also noted that President Buhari acknowledgment that the country must restructure, which he noted was softening of minds must have been influenced by pressures from the leadership of his party, the APC.
“I am convinced that there is a lot of pressures within the APC as a party following its restructuring mantra which is political. But no leader in this country can tell you that there is one absolute panacea to our problems. Unfortunately, there is no coherent policy by the presidency on this contentious issue and at the rate we are going we may end up with anarchy and that will be disastrous for the country.”
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