The recent statement by the Director of Media and
Publicity, APC Presidential Campaign Organization
(APCPCO), Mr Garba Shehu which accused
President Goodluck Jonathan and the economic
management team as executing a ‘panicky and
uncoordinated management’ of the economy is
totally false and actually flies in the face of well-
known facts. Perhaps, the spokesman for the
Buhari campaign was mixing up the era of his
principal as Head of State during which the
economy collapsed and Nigerians were reduced to
buying essential commodities while being flogged
by soldiers with the current coordinated and result
focused economic management of the Goodluck
administration.
We can’t blame Garba Shehu for striving to earn his
pay in his capacity as spokesperson for the
presidential aspirant of APC, Gen. Muhammadu
Buhari. But he went beyond the bounds
of professionalism to plain deceit when, at the
end of a propaganda attack on the management of
the economy, he gleefully announced to Nigerians
that “help is on the way” without providing any
details of the content of this “help” package.
Shehu was silent on details because he obviously
does not have much confidence in the economic
track record of his principal, beyond platitudes. And
who can blame him? To put it bluntly,
Buhari’s record as an economic manager during his
stint as military head of state was a disaster of
monumental proportions. That is why we should not
allow Shehu to get away with the subterfuge. Buhari
came to power on Saturday, December 31st 1983
when he truncated the nation’s democratic process
by overthrowing the democratically elected
government of Alhaji Shehu Usman Shagari in a
military coup. The Buhari regime met an economy
that had many challenges such as reduced
revenues and unemployment and proceeded to
make it much worse. By the time his government
was overthrown, the economy
had collapsed leading to collosal suffering and
pauperization of Nigerians across the country.
That’s the Buhari track record Garba Shehu doesn’t
want to talk about.
Instead of laying word games, Mallam Shehuneeds
to answer these questions: when confronted with
those economic challenges he met , what did his
principal Buhari do to reverse the situation
and assuage the pains of thepeople at the time?
What positive and impactfuleconomic policy can
anyone attribute to the Buhari military regime? Can
anyone point to any major project that Buhari
initiated and completed in the twenty months he
oversaw the affairs of the country? What wealth of
experience is Mallam Garba talking about?
As Nigerians who were alive and old enough to
remember would recall, Buhari’s “1983 Magic” to
quote his spokesman included the following:
Crude and ineffective economic polices which
brought the economy to its knees: Using soldiers to
break into people’s shops, selling off their wares at
a price determined by Buhari’s military junta, a
price that paid no attention to the economic realities
of the cost of production or other market conditions.
This crude method did indeed bring down the
prices of goods but it of course did not last. Soon,
the goods disappeared as the traders lacked the
resources to replenish their stocks, othersbegan to
operate only at night or in secret. The consequence
of this was that in no time,massive suffering ensued
across the nation asbusinesses were ruined and
such essential commodities as milk, beverages,
salt and food items became luxury goods- that is if
you are lucky to find them.
Cancellation of the Lagos rail line project: The Lateef
Jakande administration in Lagos had initiated a rail
project to ease the acute transport problems
facing the state, reduce Lagos residents spend in
traffic holdups, create jobs through this massive
infrastructure project and convert Lagos into a
modern economic hub. Alhaji Jakande had paid an
advance fee for the commencement of this very
important project, the paper work had been
concluded and the contractors, financiers and other
stakeholders were fully set to begin this multi-
million dollars project which was billed to transform
commerce, tourism and other economic ventures in
the then capital city. In what must rank as one of
the worst economic crimes in the history of the
country, Buhari announced the cancellation of the
project soon after he assumed office. As a result
Nigeria was slammed with huge penalties for
breaching the terms of the contract. In fact,
Nigeria paid more in penalties than it would have
cost to execute the project. Specifically the country
lost the $50 million deposited for the $450 million
dollar project and paid significant penalties for
Buhari’s unilateral cancellation. Nigeria lost the
deposit, paid the penalties but got nothing for the
investment in time, effort and millions of Naira by
the farsighted Jakande administration which
initiated the project. How do we explainthis? It is
nothing short of wickedness that a head of state, for
no good reason, aborted a project that was
structured to alleviate the sufferings of the
citizens. Where on earth have you heard that the
leader of a countryterminated a major project for
which a previous government had made needed
monetary commitments and chose to pay penalties
instead? Has Buhari explained the reason for that
cancellation to Lagosians and Nigerians who visit
the city daily in pursuit of one economic need or the
other? What ‘magic’ does Mallam Shehu Garba see
in this?
Massive plunging of economic indices: It is alsoon
record that under Buhari’s 1983 “magic reign,” all
major economic indices took a turn for the worse.
Graduate unemployment under Buhari’s regime was
put at 77%, the private sector was suffocated and
could only take a paltry 15% of applicants and mass
discontent was the order of the day during the era
of this famed “economic magician.”
While unemployment was rising, Buhari and his
goons sacked a record 200, 000 workers from the
federal civil service. How will Shehu Garba explain
this? Nigerians workers had better watch it.
Not done with the abrupt termination of the
appointment of two hundred thousand staff of
federal establishments across Nigeria, Buhari’s
vengeful eyes turned to the military establishment.
In the period Mallam Garba wants us to recall with
ululation, 30, 000 members of the armed forces
were SACKED by Buhari. Do not forget, there was
no compensation, no retirement benefits for any of
the disengaged staff, whether in the military or the
civil service. Nigerians must be made to know this.
Facts are sacred. They are not amenable to PR
makeovers.
After the failed attempt to control market forces,
inflation began to rise astronomically. By the
beginning of August 1985, just weeks before
Buhari’s ouster by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, inflation
in Nigeria stood at a whopping 40%.What
explanation does Shehu Garba have to offer
Nigerians?
Is it not all too obvious that Mallam Garba’s
principal wrecked the lives of all classes of
Nigerians? If you are in doubt, consider these
indisputable facts:
a)
The market men and women were demobilized after
Buhari sent soldiers to take over their shops and
sell goods at artificial prices. Most of them never
recovered from the shock of this failed experiment.
b)
The Lagos traffic gridlock continues today because
of Maj. Gen. Buhari’s petty mindedness. Billions of
naira in real economic value are lost daily in Lagos
traffic because residents spend so manyproductive
hours in traffic jams rather than in offices, shops or
factories. Had Buhari allowed Jakande’s rail project
to go on, the productivity of the average Lagos
resident would have been higher. A
man bedevilledwith the absence of foresight as
Mallam Shehu’s principal could not have imagined
the damage he was unleashing on the future of the
city when he unilaterally took that callous decision.
Thousands of Nigerians living in that mega city
have lost their jobs on account of daily traffic
difficulties. Their lives were wrecked by the “1983”
magic of Maj. Gen. Buhari.
c)
Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari introduced tuition
fees into Nigerian tertiary institutions and abolished
the free meal regime thereby denying millions of
Nigerian youths their only passport to a better
future. Many resorted to robbery and other forms of
criminality after Buhari slammed the door on their
dreams. Shall we go back there?
It is certainly in Mallam Garba’s interest to keep a
number of things silent, to detract attention from the
multiple shortcomings of his master and mentor but
Nigerians are duty bound to keep these many acts
of wickedness, incompetence and pettiness
exhibited by Maj Gen. Buhari in view.
Mr Garba should be told in no uncertain terms that
Nigerians are not the fools he and his spin masters
in the APC assume to be. The truth which one
assumes they admit privately but are so reluctant
to acknowledge in the public sphere is that Buhari’s
presidential ambition is offering
nothing but distorted memories of “discipline” to
Nigerians. The facthowever is that that Buhari only
flogged the Nigerian economy into stupor and
unproductivity through crude policies that caused
more suffering than the economic challenges that
he met when he overthrew the Shagari government.
To make matters worse, it is becoming
increasingly clearer that he has learnt nothing
during the intervening years. That is why Buhari not
been able to articulate any credible alternative to
Jonathan,relying instead on hollow populist
slogans to drive his campaign till date.
It is an indisputable fact of history that Buhari’s
government earned infamy for treating Nigerians
like animals in their own country, jailing journalists
for “embarrassing” government with the truth and
using retroactive laws to murder young Nigerians
for offences committed before he came to power.
But, properly calculated, his economic policies
actually did more damage to this country than his
human rights record.
On the other hand, the response of the Jonathan
administration government to the global fall in oil
prices has been coordinated, strategic and tailored
to mitigate the effects on the economy. This
explains why food prices remain relatively stable,
inflation is still single digit, and key infrastructural
projects like the 2nd Niger Bridge and Lagos Ibadan
expressway are still going on. Also, credible
international agencies like the IMF have projected
that in spite the challenges, the Nigerian economy
is on course to grow by 4.8% in 2015. And unlike
the Buhari era when investors left in droves, many
globally respected investors like Indorama, General
Electric, AXA, Nissan etc are either coming in or
increasing their investments in Nigeria. This is a
vote of confidence by the astute international
investing community in the strength of the economy
and by extension the economic team.
What Nigerians know and understand is that Nigeria
is not the only country challenged by the steep fall
in global oil prices. They also know that when
placed against the performance of other oil
dominated economies like Russia and Venezuela
whose economies are contracting and experiencing
negative growth, our economy is still maintaining an
impressive positive growth pattern. They also know
that it will be suicidal to at such a critical time like
this, to hand over the reins of our economy to
someone whose records clearly prove is incapable
of understanding the complexities of managing a
21st century economy like Nigeria.
http://thecitizenng.com/opinion/buharis-economic-track-record-mass-suffering-and-security/

So u expect me to read all dis...commo on summarize it sharp sharp!!! Make i no vex

0nyegame:
So u expect me to read all dis...commo on summarize it sharp sharp!!! Make i no vex

haha.. ok sir..