Reviving the economy is beyond APC — NCP

• Urges Buhari to form Government of National Unity

BY SUNDAY ODIBASHI

THE National Conscience Party (NCP), an opposition political party that has latently been in the obscure, has joined the league of stakeholders in the polity searching for ways out of the current economic recession in the country. The party declared that the solution to the economic crisis which has spiraled into recession has gone beyond the All Progressives Congress (APC). The NCP contended that the appointments made by President Muhammadu Buhari into the federal cabinet and other organs of government and the resultant recession of the economy in about one year show clearly that competent persons were not appointed to manage the economy, advocating that appointments should go beyond the bounds of the APC.

Engr. Martin Onovo, NCP Presidential Candidate in 2015, in a statement on the state of the nation, decried: “that every index of development has deteriorated in the last one year is crystal clear to all reasonable Nigerians. Nigeria is now in the worst recession in 29 years.”

Onovo bemoaned that insecurity in Nigeria has attained frightening dimensions, highlighting: “Armed robbery, kidnapping, child trafficking, armed herdsmen attacks, ethnic conflicts, attacks on security forces have all increased perniciously, leading to unprecedented loss of lives and property.”

Onovo further lamented that the “reported Boko Haram threats this September to the Edo State governorship election may be a confirmation that Boko Haram terrorism has spread beyond Northern Nigeria to Southern Nigeria.” He remarked that of the top four terrorist organizations in the world today, two groups are in Nigeria, namely, Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen. He lamented that the herdsmen recently attacked another peaceful community in Enugu State and killed many people, including, a Seminarian of the Spiritan Seminary, and wounded many others. “We must not allow things to get to failure point,” he cautioned.

The NCP 2015 Presidential candidate further decried the rising rate of unemployment in the country. He observed that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently reported that 26 million Nigerians are currently unemployed or under employed. The unemployment rate, he recalled, has risen from 6.4 per cent in the last quarter of 2014 to 13.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2016. An additional 1.56 million Nigerians lost their jobs just this second quarter of 2016 as reported by the NBS, he narrated; declaring that, “This is intolerable.”

The NCP also chided the APC-Government on declining Power Supply. Onovo remarked that national public power supply that had reached a paltry 4,500 MW in March 2015 has now declined to about 3,000 MW even with the unlawful increase in electricity tariffs. He emphasized that power is critical to productivity, adding that cost of energy is a key cost of production. He noted that increasing cost of energy has affected costs of products and services, resulting in high cost of goods and services, in addition to weak capacity building of the production and manufacturing sectors of the economy, the attendant loss of jobs and closing down of many companies . “We do not wish to be led backwards and cannot accept declining power supply,” Onovo declared.

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It was argued further that national unity forged over the last 56 years of patriotic political engineering has been deliberately subverted by the divisive and unlawful social marginalization and political exclusion tactics of the current political leadership. The country was said to have been deeply divided along ethnic and religious interests. Onovo recalled that US House Committee Chairman, Tom Marino, recently condemned the sectional agenda of the current political leadership and called for security sanctions against Nigeria. “A big dent to the already poor international image of Nigeria,” he said.

It was further noted that routine breaches of constitutional provisions, violation of court orders, unlawful detentions and extra-judicial killing of several persons have become a new standard for governance in Nigeria. “This must not continue,” he admonished.

Onovo frowned at the economic decline following the liberalization of the Naira. Currently, with the Naira exchanging at over N420 to the US Dollar in the parallel market, it is clear that the Naira has lost over 50 per cent of its value under the current government in just over one year, he argued. “A catastrophic record,” he said.

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The NCP chieftain also bemoaned that official inflation figures published by the NBS show that inflation has gone from 9.2% in July 2015 [YoY] to 17.1% in July 2016 [YoY].

Another catastrophic record, he reiterated; lamenting that, it may be simpler to understand that a 50Kg bag of staple rice that sold for N11,000.00 about a year ago, currently sells for N22,000.00 (a 100 per cent price increase).

The NCP condemned what it considered the level of wastefulness in the current administration. “In this crisis, the most vexatious may be the extreme insensitivity and profligacy of the presidency. To maintain over nine presidential jets, budget N1 billion for feeding in the presidency, budget N4 billion for the maintenance of the exclusive Aso Rock Clinic, N3.4 billion for “Change begins with me”; and spend N6 million GBP (N3.2 billion) on an ear infection, may be a world record in profligacy,” Onovo declared. However, the Presidency explained that only N20 million was spent on the ear infection treatment overseas.

Onovo also argued that the reckless, irresponsible and unpatriotic borrowing from both internal and external sources by the current federal government for its wasteful and unpatriotic expenditures is a quick march to a national debt crisis. “We cannot remain silent while the future of our children is jeopardized by this unpatriotic band of leaders,” he said.

It was noted that the country is a pernicious state; clearly worse than what it was prior to the inauguration of the present Federal Government. “With rising national debt and declining foreign reserves, it is an emergency,” Onovo remarked.

Onovo stated that while governance has been poor in Nigeria since 1979, it is very clear that every development index has deteriorated and continues to deteriorate under the present government. “Contrary to the false excuses promoted by the powerful propaganda network of this

Federal Government, it is the deceitful, divisive, prodigal, planless, incompetent and corrupt tactics of the current political leadership that has led us to this crisis,” he noted.
The NCP stalwart acknowledged that Nigeria is very sick, saying that it must be healed very urgently.

According to the NCP, to pull Nigeria out of this crisis without delay, we recommend that: The present political leaders must immediately accept responsibility for the crisis and publicly apologize formally for the following deviations: false propaganda and mass deceit, sectional agenda and divisive tactics, lawlessness and dictatorial impunity, social exclusion and political marginalization of large sections of Nigeria, incompetent ‘guess and check’ economic decisions, mediocrity and waste of national resources.

The NCP maintained that, thereafter, the APC should form a “Government of National Unity” with young, ethical and competent patriots to unite the country and address the current security and economic challenges and salvage the country from the current crisis.

Onovo admonished that, “these must be done immediately;” adding that, “further delay will surely lead to further deterioration and will confirm the insensitivity and negligence of our current rulers.” He maintained that, “If we wait till 2019 to save our country, there may be no Nigeria for us to save in 2019 or the situation may deteriorate so much that much more concerted efforts may be required to arrest the situation,” warning: “A stitch in time saves nine.”