FACT CHECK: Amaechi’s claims on recession under Jonathan and 7,000MW under PMB are false

Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation and former governor of Rivers state, made false claims about Nigeria generating 7,000MW of electricity under President Muhammadu Buhari, TheCable can confirm.

In an interview with Osasu Igbinedion, after the launch of the Kaduna-Abuja railway line, Amaechi said Nigeria was generating 7,000MW of electricity before the resumption of militant activities in the Niger Delta region.

He blamed the militants – Niger Delta Avengers – for poor power generation in Africa’s largest economy.

“Don’t forget that until these so-called Avengers began to bomb,we had got to 7,000 megawatts, and what he promised was ten at the end of the first term,” Amaechi had said.

“By the time the avengers, or whatever they call them started bombing, the minister of power, had driven the thing to 7,000 megawatts. Unfortunately, they began to hit the gas facilities, so what would you do?”

FACT: Nigeria, in its 55-year history, has never generated 7,000MW

Contrary to Amaechi’s claim, TheCable can confirm that Nigeria has never generated as much as 7,000MW in its entire existence.

Electricity generation in Nigeria is said to have begun under the British colonial government back in 1896, while the Nigerian Electricity Supply Corporation (NESCO) came on board in the late 1920s.

Ignoring the above, and tracing our records to 1960, when Nigeria got her independence, the government said, in a memorandum of understanding signed with the United States government, that it had built power plants to generate about 6,000 MW of electricity by 2014. NERC data shows the government fell short of its projection.

According to Wall Street Journal, which quoted the World Bank and Energy Information Administration, Nigeria produces less than half as much electricity as North Dakota for 249 times more people.

Meanwhile, the federal ministry of power, has said the highest level of power generation in the country, in the space of over half a century, was recorded on February 2, 2016, when the country generated 5,074 MW.


Power peaked at 5,074.7MW on February 2, 2016

This 1,926 MW short of Amaechi’s claim.

As at July 26, when Amaechi made this claim, Nigerian Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC) data showed that power generation peaked at 3,082 MW for the week.


Power generation when Amaechi made his claim

Babatunde Fashola, minister of power, who spoke atThe Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House,on August 1, also reiterated the work done on power generation in Nigeria, with emphasis on a power peak around 5,000MW for 2016.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who spoke at the University of Ibadan, the country’s premier university in May said: “Early in the life of this administration late last year and early this year, power generation was possibly at its best”.

“Nigeria, for the first time, was actually generating 5,000megawatts, which was the first time it will happen in the history of the country,”Osinbajo added, contrary to Amaechi.

FACT: Nigeria was not in recession under Jonathan

The minister, who also served as speaker of the Rivers state house of assembly for eight years, also claimed that there was economic recession, under the administration of former president Goodluck Jonathan.

“If you remember as governor, I said we’re broke. The minister for finance (Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala) came to my office in Abuja here and pleaded with me that I shouldn’t say it again,” Amaechi said.

“So I knew as chairman of governors’ forum, that we had goneinto recession under Goodluck (Jonathan).”

First: What is recession?

The International Monetary Fund (IMF),CNNMoney, New York Times and leading economic bodies agree that a recession can be easily identified by “two consecutive quarters of decline in acountry’s real (inflation adjusted) gross domestic product (GDP)”.

They, however, add that on a global scale, one may need more than thismetric to call a recession. IMF particularly says “it is often better to consider a wider set of measuresof economic activity to determine whether a country is indeed suffering a recession”.

Second: Can recession be covered up?

Amaechi alleged that the Goodluck Jonathan administration covered up the recession.

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a private research organisation, which maintains a chronology of the beginning and ending dates of US recessions, recession cannot be covered up.

The NBER’s Business Cycle Dating Committee defines a recession as “asignificant decline in economic activityspread across the economy, lasting more than a few months,normally visiblein production, employment, real income, and other indicators”.

Your Verdict: Did Nigeria experience recession under Jonathan?

Goodluck Jonathan became Nigerian president on May 5, 2010 and relinquished power by May 29, 2015.

Central Bank of Nigeria datashows that there wasnever a single quarter of negative GDP growthfrom 2010 to 2015, and no “two consecutive quarters of decline (negative growth) in a country’s real(inflation adjusted) gross domestic product (GDP)”.


GDP growth by Quarter (Chart by Trading economics)

According to World Bank and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) opendata project, Nigeria experience annual economic growth ranging from 7.8 percent in 2010 to 2.7 percent in 2015.

GDP growth by quarter (Chart by Trading Economics)

Other economic metrics, such as inflation, unemployment, also do not show any signs of recession.

According to NBS, Jonathan’s administration saw unemployment spike above 10 percent in 2012 from about five percent in 2010. Jonathan left Nigeria with 8.2 percent unemployment.

The administration alsomoved inflationfrom 12.9 percent in May, 2010 to nine percent in May, 2015. No economic indices highlighted by the IMF, World Bank and NBS showed recession within 2010 and 2015.

https://www.thecable.ng/fact-check-amaechis-claims-on-gejs-recession-and-7000mw-power-generation-are-false?_e_pi_=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C4078599699

These lying bastards again.. Thunder wey go faya buhari and his lying team still dey collect power from devil


the masses are suffering and these bastards are busy lying and deceiving themselves...

But when will APC stop lying against GEJ ?
this is incessant and stale now, at least, you succeeded in poisoning the minds of Nigerians against him. So are you not contended with that ?

This shows that APC and its proponents weren't just against GEJ's political ambition, but against his personality.

I already know they are lies. Thanks for letting others know though

good


under Jonathans administration Nigeria became the fastest growing economy even to the envy of South Africa


now the reverse is the case were even Burundi and Niger has overtaken us


amachi and lei Mohamed are like 5 and 6

In this APC regim dat i kw and confirm that LIE has grade also dat old men lies alot.oh i weep 4 my dear country.

Na today?

Amaechi like all major APC chieftains are pathological liars and Nigerians now know better.

The painful thing is that these are old men that are lying shamelessly, setting bad records for the younger ones.

Ilu yi ti sumi, eyin oyinbo ewa fun mi ni visa.

ozy4christ:
In this APC regim dat i kw and confirm that LIE has grade also dat old men lies alot.oh i weep 4 my dear country.

If the developed nations consolidated on lies and propaganda to attain their level of development, then APC should be the right regime, But if not, Then APC should be nuked.

can you imagine making it obvious to your citizens that all you can do is to tell lies.

A party managed by rebarbative reprobates.

blueto:
If the developed nations consolidated on lies and propaganda to attain their level of development, then APC should be the right regime, But if not, Then APC should be nuked.

can you imagine making it obvious to your citizens that all you can do is to tell lies.

A party managed by rebarbative reprobates.

my dear,truth is bitter,when we see or hear the truth we welcome it bt when its d other way round we reject it and speak up.dis regime is all abt lies,keeping quiet would have been d best option.

ozy4christ:
my dear,truth is bitter,when we see or hear the truth we welcome it bt when its d other way round we reject it and speak up.dis regime is all abt lies,keeping quiet would have been d best option.

A prerequisite or benchmark for joining APC is that You must be a clever liar, and possess the ability to delude people.

Sai Baba Cassandra

blueto:

A prerequisite or benchmark for joining APC is that You must be a clever liar, and possess the ability to delude people.

hahaha very funny.its well

does any sane person really take amaechi seriously? Amaechi is now the one to tell us when their is recession and when there isn't.. rubbish

who takes lizard of ubama serious judas ameachi has always been a clown.

blueto:
But when will APC stop lying against GEJ ?
this is incessant and stale now, at least, you succeeded in poisoning the minds of Nigerians against him. So are you not contended with that ?

This shows that APC and its proponents weren't just against GEJ's political ambition, but against his personality.

imagine d lizard (ameachi) saying GEJ covered up recession during him era how pesin go cover recession dis tells u d kind of ministers in buari cassandra's govt. dull pipul with low iq.

eph12:
I already know they are lies. Thanks for letting others know though

I'm happy others are refuting their lies and not GEJ himself. Let ameachi continue, d end justify all

Shameless liars i wonder who still believe anything they say

drss2:
who takes lizard of ubama serious judas ameachi has always been a clown.

bro watsup

Cutehector:
bro watsup

oboy i dey fine. how ur site?

drss2:
oboy i dey fine. how ur site?

cool mehn. Can I hav a chat wit u privately, maybe whatsapp. Please

Cutehector:
cool mehn. Can I hav a chat wit u privately, maybe whatsapp. Please

am sorry i don stop to dey display my phone numba for nairaland. but no wahala i go support ya candidate.

[quote author=blueto post=48174002]
According to World Bank and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) opendata project, Nigeria experience annual economic growth ranging from 7.8 percent in 2010 to 2.7 percent in 2015.
https://www.thecable.ng/fact-check-amaechis-claims-on-gejs-recession-and-7000mw-power-generation-are-false?_e_pi_=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C4078599699[/quote]

7.8% growth Mr Phd met on ground and it kept dwindling till 2.7% as he exited power. That's woeful economic failure during an oil boom.

drss2:
am sorry i don stop to dey display my phone numba for nairaland. but no wahala i go support ya candidate.

oya make I follow u so u go follow me bak den send me ur number privately for mail. E go dey better dat way so I go quick remind u befor e start. Thanks bro

Amaechi can not be taken seriously for any reason. He is a clown.

Imagine the people Nigerians look up to as leaders? APC have set a bad precedence that will continually hunt it for life.Amaechi-the deputy dishonorable minister of lies & propaganda.

I wouldn't appoint this man my palace fool

Ameachi will do anything to impress Baba Cassandra

drss2:
imagine d lizard (ameachi) saying GEJ covered up recession during him era how pesin go cover recession.

everything about ineffectual buffoon is lies, making all institution to become liar, even NBS were working for pdp ,spreading lies everyday during d electionering campaign, giving wrong statistic, u can see how all institution suppose to be working independently from d party in power.