Unless the Federal Government puts the brakes on its current policy of uncontrolled spending spree, the nation

risks going broke sooner than envisaged, former Vice President and presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party 

(PDP), has warned.

According to a statement by the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation, the former Vice President had severally alerted

 on the parlous state of the nation’s economy. Similarly, Managing Director of the World Bank, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala 

and the former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof Chukwuma Soludo and the Brettonwood institutions have also 

urged urgent interventions to stem the slide of the economy.

But rather than take heed of the alerts, the Jonathan administration has continued to play the ostrich and live in denial 

of the true state of the Nigerian economy.

The PDP presidential aspirant warned  (on Wednesday) that unless the uncontrolled spending and mismanagement of the

 economy by the Jonathan administration is checked, the nation risks going broke sooner than later.

He noted that the Minister of Finance, Dr. Segun Aganga and Governor of CBN, Lamido Sanusi Lamido have acknowledged

 that that indeed all is not well with the nation’s economy.

He said that with inflation currently at 14% in Nigeria compared to the BRIC countries’ (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) 7-8%

 and sub-Saharan Africa’s around 7%, Nigeria may not attain the 2020 target of being one of the leading 20 economies.

Atiku noted that the current situation is also being exacerbated by the rapid depletion of the external reserves with not much

 to show for it in terms of infrastructure and economic development. 

He dismissed the claim of Aganga that Nigeria is currently one of the top 10 economies of the world as reminiscent of George

 Orwell’s Animal Farm in which presumed economic growth is only visible from pronouncements of government officials.

He said that in the first 8 months of this year alone, the foreign reserves have gone down by $8 billion with its attendant impact 

on rising inflation.

He noted that the CBN’s intervention in raising the MRR (minimum rediscount rate) by 25 basis points has not helped the 

situation adding that since rates were raised, another $2.7 billion have gone from the reserves.

The PDP presidential aspirant said that even most worrisome is the depletion of the Excess Crude Account from $22 billion

 to $470 million with no corresponding projects associated with the spending. He regretted that most of the expenditure

 has gone into recurrent spending.

According to him, the fact that the Jonathan administration is relapsing into the habit of foreign borrowing is a clear indication

 that something is wrong with the way the economy is being run.

He said as desirable as borrowing is to the development of the economy, the  funds so borrowed must be targeted at critical

 sectors, else the nation would be returning to a regime of debt overhang.  

The Jonathan campaign responds:

Call Atiku to order

The Director of the Media and Publicity Committee of the Goodluck/Sambo Presidential Campaign Organisation, Mr. Sully Abu, has described Alhaji Atiku Abubakar ..once again as (an) alarmist, …ignorant (of) basic economic matters. 

In a statement issued today, Mr. Abu said Alhaji Atiku’s latest statement on the economy is full of his usual alarm designed to show him as something of economic expert. But he continues to whip up random statements about certain economic indicators and to offer them as received wisdom

The last time Alhaji Atiku spoke about the Nigerian economy, he was roundly educated by officials of the Federal Government. However, given his latest statement, it would appear that he is incapable of seeing anything good in management of the national economy merely because he wants to score political point.

``Atiku claims that Nigeria is broke. To buttress his claim, he cited figures that were merely hanging in the air (Foreign reserves have gone down by $8.billion, the Excess Crude Account has gone from $22 billion to $470 million), misquoted the Minister of Finance (who said that Nigeria’s growth rate is one of the top 10 in the world rather than one of the top 10 economies of the world) and make unsubstantiated allegations about the correlations between monies and projects.

``Pray, what research did Atiku undertake to show that monies have been taken from the Reserves and Excess Crude Account with nothing to show for it? Is he saying that all the 36 State Governors and 774 Local Government Chairmen who received their share of the Excess Crude Account have done absolutely nothing with it? If he has been living in this country, would he not have been aware of the cooperative resolution of the Federal and State Governments to plough  substantial proportion of the Excess Crude Account into resolving Nigeria’s power problem? Can anyone claim not to know about the several power projects going on in the country today?

``On what does Atiku base his claim of financial recklessness against the Government of President Jonathan? It is clear that the management of the economy is not Atiku’s forte. He should, therefore, not allow sheer desperation to push him into making reckless and unfounded statements about people whose knowledge of the economy, pedigree and economic reputation are… superior ..(to) his.

``The time has come for the PDP to call Atiku to order. He must be reminded that he is no longer the Presidential candidate of an opposition party but an aspirant on the platform of the PDP’’Abu said.