APC To Atiku: It Took You 13yrs To Realize Your Failure To Diversify Economy

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has responded to former vice president Atiku Abubakar’s recent criticism of the economic policies of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Atiku had advised President Buhari on ways to diversify the economy and “pull Nigeria from the brink” by investing in agriculture, manufacturing and Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sectors, among others.

The former vice president went as far as describing Buhari’s indefinite shutdown of Nigeria’s land borders to tackle smuggling as an “insane policy”.

But responding in a lengthy statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Lanre Issa-Onilu, on Saturday, the ruling party thanked Atiku for his advice to the president, but wondered why he failed to implement same when he served for 8 years as “a powerful Vice President and Chairman of the National Council on Privatization” under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration.

The APC also criticised Atiku for failing to acknowledge the successes of the Buhari administration in the area of economic diversification in the last five years.

It said, “While we appreciate that Atiku Abubakar is keying into this administration’s policy direction regarding diversification, we are only worried that it took him 13 years after leaving office to realise that the Government under which he served as the Vice President was short-sighted for its failure to faithfully diversify the Nigerian economy.

“Not to be confused, Atiku had eight years as a powerful Vice President and Chairman of the National Council on Privatisation with vantage opportunity to lead the country away from its dependence on oil. How Nigeria got worse even when international oil prices were stable and high are matters Atiku may still need to address in future.”

The ruling party went on to list the economic diversification efforts of the Buhari administration to include the launch of the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) which it said has provided farmers across the country with access to finance, as well as the local production of fertilizer in the country.

On Atiku’s criticism of the border closure, the APC said: “How does the former Vice President expect Nigeria to be a productive economy if we continue to allow neighbouring countries to jeopardise our efforts to grow our own economy?

“Atiku may wish to know that the policy he has unfortunately chosen to label as “insane” has led to a significant spike in rice production across the country, opening up of hundreds of rice mills, indigenous manufacturing firms are sourcing their raw materials locally, boom in poultry farming, with Nigerians now patronising locally made food items like never before and, in the process, boosting the income of farmers and local producers,” said the ruling party.