President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday declared that the country has suddenly become poor.
The president stated this when he received the Executive Director and
Under Secretary General of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA),
Prof Babatunde Osotimehin, at the presidential villa, Abuja. Nigeria, on
Tuesday, dropped from its first position as the largest economy in
Africa, overtaken by South Africa, which is a reflection of the
dwindling state of the economy.
Speaking at the meeting, Buhari explained that because of the
commitment of his administration to put things in order, Nigerians were
really not feeling the severe impact of the poor economy. Buhari said
that commitment to transparency and accountability is serving the
government in good stead, despite severe shortage of resources in the
country.
He said: “It has been a very difficult year for Nigeria. Before we
came to office, petroleum sold for about $100 per barrel. Then it
crashed to $37, and now oscillates between $40 and $45 per barrel.
Suddenly, we’re a poor country, but commitment to transparency and
accountability is not making people know that there is severe shortage.”
Asking UNFPA to bear with Nigeria in whichever area the country could
not live up to its responsibilities for now, Buhari said exploding
population and different cultural practices in the country provide
fertile ground for research to organisations like UNFPA.
The President thanked the UN agency for its commitment to saving lives in Nigeria, particularly of women and children.
On food security, President Buhari said reports from the North-East
of the country were encouraging, as people were returning to their
farmlands, with the guarantee of relative security. Osotimehin, a former
Nigeria’s Minister of Health, said UNFPA was determined to promote
health care facilities across the country, noting that reduction of
maternal mortality was doable, if the country paid more attention to
access to health facilities, and human resources to run them.
He also encouraged Nigeria to commit to providing resources for
health care, on a rollover basis, pledging that the UN would work with
the country to provide humanitarian assistance not only in the
North-East, “but even extended to the Lake Chad basin.”
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has stated that there
is no magic wand to perform over the country’s economic woes. The
party’s Deputy National Chairman (North), Senator Lawal Shuaibu, stated
this at the national secretariat in Abuja, while reacting to complaints
of Nigerians on economic hardship. He stated that Nigerians were aware
of the hard economic situation that they had to pray for Buhari to come
in and rescue the situation. Reacting to insinuations that the hardship
that Nigerians are passing through may affect the fortunes of the party
in 2019, Shuaibu said: “You are talking of hardship just one year into
the administration of the party, and people are expecting magic.
They forgot the 16 years of destruction by the former ruling party.
“People are busy talking of hardship, but they are the same people that
pleaded and prayed to God to send somebody to come and correct these
things and save the situation. It is not fair that people expect it to
happen overnight. Impunity was recognised. Al we ask for is patience,
interestingly Nigerians can see the pace we are going.”
Asked if the party would sanction those involved in the allegations
of budget padding, the party chieftain said: “To start with, what is
budget padding? The party does not sanction anybody except when a member
contravenes sections of the party constitution in his conduct.
That is why I referred you to the relevant section of the party
constitution. “For your information, the party is not a law enforcement
organisation. We don’t enforce laws, but only ensure that the
constitution is complied with regarding the membership.
A member of the party is answerable to the party as well as to his
constituency. “The two classes of members subjected to this are the
elected and appointed members of the party holding public offices.
They are answerable to the party. I am sure that people are not
expecting the party to fold its arms; we must do our work as a party.
“People are claiming that we want to sweep something under the carpet,
we will not, but we cannot do those things in public or market place. We
do it in the party secretariat.”
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