The Transitional Monitoring Group (TMG) has said that the dwindling economic situation of Nigeria had clearly shown that the All Progressive Congress (APC) government had no effective strategies to address the problem.
TMG categorically said that although the economic mess is a creation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led government, there is absence of a well articulated policy to bring out Nigerians out of economic doldrums.
The Chairman of TMG, Com. Ibrahim Zikirullahi stated this while briefing newsmen on the state of the nation, in Abuja, he called on the APC government to stop experimentation based on pet economic theories.
His words: “So far, it is clear that the All Progressives Congress (APC) government of change has no effective strategy to clear the economic mess that was created by the immediate past Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led government.
“The reality of the absence of a well-articulated and coherent strategy to bring Nigeria out of its current economic doldrums would be seen in the excruciating crunch that is currently subjecting Nigerians to untold hardships.
“Rather than abate, the current economic realities have further accentuated the poverty, which millions of Nigerians in 2015 voted to keep at bay. Demeaning stories of Nigerians who are now forced to engage in theft of cooked food in desperate moves to deal with hunger, calls for urgent attention.
“TMG calls on the Federal Government to discard the endless experimentation based on pet economic theories, which do not reflect the realities of the Nigerian condition. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the current instability and chaos that have characterised the management of the foreign exchange market.
“With so much uncertainty and confusion, the Central Bank of Nigeria has shown very little acumen in being able to stabilise the system. Beyond knee jerk experimentation, the nation’s monetary policy is yet to get any nuanced intervention aimed at calming the market.
“So with each new approach almost on a weekly basis, the Naira on the watch of the current monetary policy makers, slides further, with dire implications for the purchasing power of Nigerians.”
The group however noted that there is a political undertone to the continued economic problem, adding that all policy implementation was still in the hands of those who are not wishing the government well to justify their staying in government.
It said; “It is therefore not surprising that inflation is currently galloping out of control, putting basic goods and services beyond the reach of the ordinary Nigerian.
“It is pertinent to note however that there are political dimensions to the current failed attempt to put the economy on the path towards recovery. As far as we are concerned, as long as monetary policy remains in the hands of those who were silent and did nothing when the financial resources of the nation were being plundered during the immediate past administration, the solutions proffered would continually produce results that show vestiges of the disastrous past.”
Consequently, Zikirullahi demanded the immediate removal of the current Governor of the Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele, wondering why the President still leaves him in the position to allegedly continue working underground against the government.
“The reasoning behind the President’s decision to allow the current Governor of the Central Bank, who virtually opened up the vaults of the Central Bank to looters, to continue to dictate the direction of the economy, leaves much to be desired.
“In fact, in many other sectors, several discredited actors who were part of the mess Nigerians were forced to live within the immediate past government, were allowed to remain in the system.
Currently, many of them are mutating and worming their ways into sensitive position from where they will continue to use their old habits to dash the expectations of Nigerians.
“Nigerians expected a radical shift in the approach to governance, and it is clearly not what they are currently seeing. The seriousness of the Nigerian situation requires a radical change in which fresh minds would galvanise and move the nation in a new direction,” he alleged.
