The Nigerian government has blamed past administrations for the
current economic crisis that has left many families struggling to feed
and to survive.
The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, said on Thursday that
Nigerians are suffering today because past governments did not properly
manage the country’s oil wealth.
Mr. Mohammed spoke at the 2016 edition of the All Nigeria Editors
Conference in Port Harcourt. He urged the media to trace the story of
hardship to its beginning.
“Nigeria has nothing to rely on to cushion the effects of the lost
earnings. Many other oil producing countries and fellow OPEC members are
faring better, because they saved for the rainy day. Saudi Arabia, with
about one fifth of Nigeria’s population, has in foreign reserves about
600 billion dollars (which is 23 times what Nigeria has in foreign
reserves),” he said.
“United Arab Emirates, with less than 10 million people, has 75
billion dollars in foreign reserves. Qatar, with 2.4 million people, has
36 billion dollars in foreign reserves. Even Angola, with just 24
million people, has about 25 billion dollars in foreign reserves,” Mr.
Mohammed said.
There have been increasing criticisms of the government’s response to
the economic crisis that has caused increase in prices, pay cuts and
owed salaries, job losses and growing unemployment.
On Wednesday, fiery Catholic Priest, Ejike Mbaka, accused President
Muhammadu Buhari of focusing more on fighting corruption than responding
to an economic emergency that has left many families struggling or
unable to feed.
“It is not easy everywhere. Hunger everywhere. As the president is
fighting corruption, some of us are praying that he will equally fight
hunger. Hunger is in the atmosphere,” Mr. Mbaka said in a sermon to his
congregation on July 23, 2016.
“All this noise about EFCC arrest this and that, after one week that
one is over. People are dying of hunger. Dollar is growing every day and
naira is dying every day. Euro is rising every day and naira is
collapsing every day. Pounds is on hike every day–on a mega level- and
naira is dwindling–on a hyper level.
“The landlords are crying, tenants are lamenting. Sellers are crying.
Buyers are lamenting. There is hunger on the street. Many students are
being rusticated from school, why? Because they can’t pay for school
feels. Proprietors are distressed. Many companies are winding up. The
economy is hard.”
But the information minister, Mr. Mohammed, said Nigeria’s economy is
hard hit by the fall in the price of crude oil because the country
failed to save for the rainy day.
He said the previous governments also failed to invest in infrastructure.
Mr. Mohammed said Nigerians should know that people are suffering today because previous administrations did not save.
“We are not saying we should continue to lament about missed
opportunities, the massive corruption or profligacy of the past, but is
it is important for Nigerians to know where and when the rain started
beating them; that no provision was made for any umbrella to shield them
from the elements, and that indeed genuine efforts are now being made
to turn things around,” he said.
Mr. Mohammed urged the media to spread the message of hope proposed by the current administration to the Nigerian people.
”We must give hope to our people, while also giving encouragement to
those who are working non-stop to revamp our economy,” he said.
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