Nigerian Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has uncovered what he described as “incredible things” former President Goodluck Jonathan did in office.
The VP said this while speaking at the legislative economic summit themed “Legislative Framework for Economic Recovery and Sustainable Development” in Abuja on Monday.
Osinbajo uncovered things which he said happened in Nigeria a few weeks before the 2015 general elections.
He said under the administration of Jonathan, Nigeria witnessed barefaced stealing and waste of resources unprecedented anywhere in the world; the situation, he alleged, caused the recent economic recession.
Osinbajo said between 2013 and 2015 with oil prices averaging up to $110 per barrel, “sometimes going to as high as $150, the government of the day somehow contrived to increase national debt from N7.9 trillion to N12.1 trillion; while reducing external reserves from $45 billion to $28 billion as of May 2015.”
According to Osinbajo, under Jonathan’s watch, there was also inflation of contracts and other procurements which, he noted, always made the cost of infrastructure necessary for development unaffordable.
The VP added, “Of course, we all know that there was very little by the way of investment in infrastructure and capital projects. In fact in 2015, capital spend was less than 11%. So there was very little to show for where this money went.
“I don’t want to keep repeating some of the incredible things that happened, a few weeks before the last elections; how large sums of money, a 100billion in cash ostensibly for security. Another $289million in cash was paid out in the same period.
“No country can survive that kind of unbridled waste and corruption. We must never forget, that corruption is perhaps, the most outrageous cause of our economic decline.
“Aside from barefaced stealing or waste of resources, the inflation of contracts and other procurements ensures that the cost of infrastructure necessary for development will always be unaffordable.
“So if what we should spend on building a 200km road ends up being spent on a 20 km road, there is no way we are going to make any progress and there is no way we won’t end up in some kind of economic decline or the other,” Osinbajo stated.
“In 2015, oil prices fell to as low as $28 at some point. But worse still, throughout 2016 we lost almost a million barrels a day in oil production due to vandalization and sabotage of oil facilities and pipelines. We lost something in the order of about 60% of our revenues. Yet we could have survived without going into a recession, I think Dr. Teriba so ably stated that, we could have survived if we had savings. But we had no savings only debt.
“As economists would say, and as Dr. Teriba had said, we did not have the fiscal buffers to enable a counter-cyclical approach. In other words, we lacked the savings to see us through the lean times. Why? Why did we lack savings, when so much money was being made? This is the elephant in the room.
“Today, we can say that despite the 60% or even more reduction in revenues from oil, we are bailing out the States and our capital spend in 2016 was close to N1.3trillion, the highest yet in the country’s history. So with more prudent management, it is possible to do more with far less money.”
Dear Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, your regime was elected to replace Goodluck Jonathan’s because Nigerians thought that you know better. Whenever politicians, whether in or out of power begin to weigh their achievements against those before or after them, it is an indication they have failed; check the history and you would be shocked that this is true. Only fraudulent politicians would turn around to point to how they are better than their predecessors. You must act and allow people to exonerate, commend or condemn your actions (people, the citizenry wield the power of judgment in true democracy, not the politicians). The question you must ask is: has your regime improved the lot of an average Nigerian? Has there been less violation of human rights in the country? Has the economy of Nigeria improved better than the era of Jonathan you are attempting to paint dark (in other words, has there been improvement in the nation’s GDP compared to its contemporaries elsewhere in the world)? How has healthcare and education improved? In your regime, has Corruption been reduced or eradicated in Nigeria? Have Nigerian youth stopped drying up and dying, and drowning in large numbers in the Sahara Desert and Mediterranean Sea respectively, (please check your internet and be alarmed) as they attempt to escape to Europe for better life (while you politicians sit back to pretend that all is well in the country)? I am not in any way romanticizing any of the post- political independence regime (because Nigeria is still colonized economically), but if I might advise you, it is not time at all to sit back and count your successes as if you have won the battle, you still need to drag Buhari to the drawing table because you are far from accomplishing any of the above tasks.
It is still relevant to discuss the causes of the recession that the Buhari government started with. The stealing is unprecedented in scale and spread. The statement that this is an evidence of failure of the Buhari government is absolute hogwash. Osibajo is totally correct. Dr Abayomi Ferreira.