In Nigeria, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday said the regime of President Muhammadu Buhari, could not proffer solutions to Nigeria’s dwindling foreign exchange reserves and other socio-economic and political challenges of the country.
The reports from Central Bank of Nigeria indicated that Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves dipped to $38.684bn in December from $39.8bn in November of 2019.
The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, speaking during a Monetary Policy Committee in Abuja in November had said the drop in the foreign reserves was not enough to create fear in the economy.
But the PDP Deputy National Chairman, Mr Diran Odeyemi, told newsmen in Abuja that Buhari had failed to surround himself with economic and financial experts.
He stated that ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, and ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, all of the PDP, appointed economic and financial experts, who made the economy grow during their administrations.
He also said Obasanjo’s administration was able to pay off Nigeria’s debt.
According to him, Buhari had a penchant for borrowing, adding that the borrowings had not shown commensurate investment or infrastructural provision.
Odeyemi said, “Nobody is expecting the President to be a financial expert because he did not claim to be one as a retired soldier. But as a President, he is expected to search for experts who could help him to move the country forward. This was what the former President Jonathan did and it is where Buhari has failed.
“The nation’s depleting foreign exchange is expected with the level of corruption in the war against Boko Haram, among others.
“There cannot be a better day under this regime and this is not about being antagonistic. Buhari was part of the late General Sani Abacha’s most indebted regime. What he understands about governance is to borrow and not to generate. It was the PDP administration under Obasanjo that paid off all those debts and in some instances because of his clout had some debts written off. Abacha’s regime was not different from the one that Buhari is overseeing now. The ominous signs are there for Nigerians to see.”
According to him, Buhari surrounded himself with ministers who, as former governors, incurred huge debts for their states.
He added, “How to block those leakages will not be possible under this regime because some people are smiling to the bank on the depletion of our foreign reserves in debt servicing. Until we have a change of government and all these economic marauders are chased out, the solution is not in sight.”
