Buhari, Emefiele’s ‘Incompetence’ Led Nigeria Into 2nd Recession In 4Yrs – AAC
The African Action Congress (AAC) has blamed alleged incompetence on the part of President Muhammadu Buhari and Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, for the country’s second recession in four years.
AAC’s reaction came after data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Saturday showed that the nation had slipped into its worst recession since 1987.
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The NBS report indicated that the nation’s economy contracted by 3.62% in third quarter against 6.1% in the second quarter of 2020.
“Between 2016 and 2020, The APC under the leadership of an incompetent and confused Buhari has led Nigeria into 2 recessions within 4 years. Do we still need to prove that APC has nothing to offer in terms of leadership?” the party queried in a tweet bearing photos of Buhari, Emefiele and the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed.
Meanwhile, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has foreseen that the recession would persist into the fourth quarter of 2020.
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LCCI’s Director-General, Muda Yusuf, blamed unfavourable economic policies coupled with severe inflation as being partly responsible for the current situation.
Yusuf told journalists on Saturday that the recent #EndSARS protests, destruction of properties in the ensuing violence, as well as worsening insecurity occasioned by kidnapping, banditry and herders-farmer clashes, would make it impossible for the economy to recover before the first or second quarter of 2021.
“From an economic perspective, 2020 has been a very bad year; the worst in recent history.
“We are faced with the double jeopardy of a stumbling economy and spiraling inflation.
“The October inflation numbers of 14.23 per cent was the highest in 10 months, a condition which in economic parlance is characterized as stagflation.
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“The effects of these developments are evident in businesses and in households.
“Regrettably, and as if these were not bad enough, the business community continues to grapple with unfavourable policy, institutional and regulatory challenges impeding investment,” he said.
On ways the government could set the economy on a part of speedy recovery, Yusuf said there was need to restore normalcy to the foreign exchange market by broadening the scope of market expression.
“The ports system, especially the key institutions in the international trade processes need to be more investment friendly.
“We should show greater commitment to the fixing of the structural issues to reduce production and operating costs for investors in the economy,” he said.
On #EndSARS and insecurity, he said: “We appreciate the setback suffered by the police as a result of the recent protests and we empathize with them.
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“But we need to give security confidence to citizens and investors. Incidents of kidnapping, banditry, herders-farmer clashes have not abated and these also have grave implications for investments,” said Yusuf.
