We are struggling to create jobs for Nigerians —APC

The All Progressives Congress (APC), at the weekend, said it was struggling to create jobs for Nigerians, pointing fingers at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the poor state of the economy.

The APC accused the main opposition party of running the country economy aground through oil subsidy scam, award of contracts to cronies and diversion of public funds meant to procure arms to fight insurgents to private accounts.

In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Lanre Isa-Onilu, the APC blamed certain players in the private sector for collaborating with top chieftains of the PDP to fleece the nation.

It maintained that President Muhammadu Buhari had been struggling, in the last four years, to repatriate stolen funds, diversify the economy and secure it from the threats of insurgency.

The statement read in part: “The APC admits that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has put a lot of PDP members out of their illegitimate job of looting the country, not the fictitious 40 million Nigerians being bandied by the PDP.

“For 16 years, several leaders of the PDP were having a bazaar over our common wealth, in their reckless and senseless race to produce world’s highest number of billionaires whose only enterprise was stealing from the public purse.

“During this period of calamitous heist, thousands of PDP members also held Nigeria by the throat in an unpatriotic race to help themselves to our collective resources. The entire public sector, in collaboration with willing players from the private sector, was neck-deep in fleecing the treasury.

“At a period of surplus, when crude oil prices rose to as much as $140, successive PDP governments supervised a massive scrambling for cheap money. Alongside the fuel subsidy racket, diversion of counter-insurgency funds to PDP leaders and cronies, they awarded roads, railways, power plants, airport terminals, dredging of waterways, bridges and many other projects that Nigeria badly needed, yet delivered nothing.

“The projects were mere decoy and conduits for looting the treasury. With billions of dollars stolen, the APC government inherited a decrepit country from PDP. In the last five years, the President Buhari-led APC government has not only been putting these looters out of jobs, but also relentlessly working to recover our country’s stolen resources from them. We are glad that Nigerians are seeing positive results of the current administration’s efforts. Hundreds of looters are being prosecuted, assets illegally acquired and unexplainable wealth are being recovered, while a number of them are spending time in jail.

“Many more will be on their way to jail soon. A number of them are on the run and we are collaborating with the international community to bring them to justice.

“Meanwhile, as we put the PDP looters out of jobs, we are creating the environment and other support structures for creating legitimate jobs. The outcomes are evident in the construction, manufacturing and agricultural sectors despite the fact that the country is earning far less than what was earned under the PDP.

“Jobs are being created in many productive sectors. Our security agencies are employing more personnel to create jobs and to bolster their capacity to secure lives and property. 2020 promises much more in massive infrastructure, solid minerals, oil and gas, and industrialisation.”