Atiku To Buhari: I Warned You About Second Recession But You Refused To Listen

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has reacted to reports that Nigeria had slid into a second recession within a four-year space.

Atiku, who said he received news of the second recession with “a very heavy heart”, recalled that he had warned President Muhammadu Buhari against leading the country into the second downturn.

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Figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Saturday had indicated that the country slid into its worst recession in 33 years. The NBS figures showed that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) declined by -3.62% (year-on-year) in the third quarter of 2020.

THE WHISTLER recalls that Atiku, in an opinion article, had issued the caution in April, saying failure to embrace agriculture as the primary sector that should be developed would mean that the country was ready to face “an apocalyptic scenario we would rather not entertain.”

The former vice president, who lost to Buhari in the 2019 presidential election, had urged the federal government to, “begin to invest our resources wisely to maximize dividends. We must cut our coat, not according to our size, but according to our cloth.

“Our Presidential Air Fleet of almost ten planes should go. Our large budgets for our legislature must go. The planned $100 million renovations of our Parliament must be canceled. We cannot be funding non-necessities with debt and not expect our economy to collapse.

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“Our civil servants must realise that Nigeria cannot sustain its size and profligacy. The same cost-saving measures must be adopted by the states and councils governments.”

THE WHISLTER also reported that after President Buhari presented the 2021 budget to the National Assembly in October, Atiku had noted that the appropriation bill was fraught with “very grave and perhaps disturbing issues” that could boomerang on the economy should it be signed into law.

Atiku noted that the country must exit the present recession “with precision”, adding that the current 2021 budget before the National Assembly was “no longer tenable.”

He noted that the COVID19 pandemic had worsened “an already bad situation,” but said that “we could have avoided this fate by a disciplined and prudent management of our economy.”

Atiku said these in a statement posted on his twitter account on Sunday morning.

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It reads, “Be that as it may, it serves no one’s purposes to quarrel after the fact. We must focus on solutions. Nigeria needs critical leadership to guide her back to the path of economic sustainability.

“We cannot afford hand wringing and navel-gazing. We must act now, by taking necessary, and perhaps painful actions.

“For a start, the proposed 2021 budget presented to the National Assembly on Tuesday, October 8, 2020, is no longer tenable.

“Nigeria neither has the resources, or the need to implement such a luxury heavy budget. The nation is broke, but not broken. However, if we continue to spend lavishly, even when we do not earn commensurately, we would go from being a broke nation, to being a broken nation.

“As a matter of importance and urgency, every non essential line item in the proposed 2021 budget must be expunged.

“For the avoidance of doubt, this ought to include estacodes, non emergency travel, feeding, welfare packages, overseas training, new vehicle purchases, office upgrades, non salary allowances, etc.

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“Until our economic prospects improve, Nigeria ought to exclusively focus on making budgetary proposals for essential items, which include reasonable wages and salaries, infrastructural projects, and social services (citizenry’s health, and other human development investments).

“Additionally, we have to stimulate the economy, by investing in human development, and increasing the purchasing power of the most vulnerable of our population. Only a well developed populace can generate enough economic activity for the nation to exit this recession.

“We must invest in those most likely to be impacted by the effects of the recession, the poorest of the poor. As well as stimulating the economy, this also ensures that they do not slip further into extreme poverty.

“For example, a stimulus package, in the form of monthly cash transfers of ₦5000 to be made to every bank account holder, verified by a Bank Verification Number, whose combined total deposit in the year 2019 was lower than the annual minimum wage.

“Now, how will this be funded? By more profligate borrowing? No. I propose a luxury tax on goods and services that are exclusively accessible only to the super-wealthy. A tax on the ultra wealthy to protect the extremely poor.

“A practical approach to this is to place a 15% tax on all Business and First Class tickets sold to and from Nigeria, on all luxury car imports and sales, on all private jets imports and service charges, on all jewellery imports and sales,on all designer products imported, produced or sold in Nigeria, and on all other luxury goods either manufactured, or imported into Nigeria, with the exception of goods made for export.

“The proceeds of this tax should be exclusively dedicated to a Poverty Eradication Fund, which must be managed in the same manner as the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, or the Ecological Fund.

“I further propose that a 1% poverty alleviation tax should be legislated by the National Assembly on the profits of every International Oil Company operating in Nigeria,and international airlines doing business in Nigeria, which should also go towards the proposed Poverty Eradication Fund.

“It is inhumane for us as a nation to increase the cost of goods and services that affect the poor, while keeping the cost of luxuries fairly stable. We must flip this, and flip it immediately.

“And above all, Nigeria must stop borrowing for anything other than essential needs. Again, for the avoidance of doubt, borrowing to pay salaries, or to engage in White Elephant projects, is not an essential need.

“This is particularly important as we need cash at hand, because the world and our economic and development partners are also focused on helping their home economies overcome effects of COVID19. We must be our own saviours.

“The more we borrow, the more we will need cash to make interest and principal payments, and the less cash we will have to make necessary investments in our economy and our people.

“If we keep borrowing, we stand the risk of defaulting, and that will make recession a child’s play, because we will lose some of our sovereignty.

“I urge the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to swallow its pride, and accept its limitations, so that they can open their minds to ideas, without caring who the messenger is.

Atiku concluded his remarks by borrowing the words of Deng Xiaoping, who said, “It doesn’t matter whether the cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice.”

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