Former vice-president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to take his earlier warning on the state of the nation’s economy seriously.
He also said his earlier call for a debate on the economy among presidential aspirants had been largely ignored by the contestants.
Atiku had earlier called on the Federal Government to urgently do something about what ‘the dwindling fortunes of the economy,’ after Standard & Poor, a credit rating agency, was said to have issued a similar low rating.
He followed up on this warning in the latest entry on his Facebook page, where he said the gloomy picture of the nation’s economy painted by another international agency, Fitch Ratings, was a matter for urgent intervention.
According to a statement by his campaign organisation in Abuja on Sunday, Abubakar was quoted as saying that the Fitch Ratings, which lowered Nigeria’s investment grade by three notches to BB-minus, should serve as a warning to the nation’s leaders.
Abubakar said, “Following the recent gloomy picture of the nation’s economy painted by Fitch Ratings in its report released Friday, October 22, 2010, which outrightly lowered its sovereign credit outlook on Nigeria from stable to negative, citing the depletion of its windfall oil savings and heightened political uncertainty ahead of elections next year, it is fast becoming very urgent for the Federal Government to pay serious attention to the economy.
“Rather than taking me seriously on the concerns I expressed, my advice only fetched me rebuke and insults from the Jonathan Campaign Organisation.”
He warned that this was the same defiant attitude the Federal Government led by the defunct National Party of Nigeria paid to warnings by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
He said, “They ignored the warnings of the late sage and when they realised it, it was too late to save anything. That was the point at which they declared the economic emergency that gave rise to the hated ‘austerity measures’ of that era.”
Abubakar commended the members of the National Assembly for their criticism of the implementation of the current budget. He said no serious government could afford to ignore these danger signals from international credit rating agencies as this would amount to nonchallance.
“Fitch in its latest rating of our economy said continued withdrawals from the nation’s excess crude account, into which Nigeria saves crude oil earnings above a benchmark price, and lower foreign exchange reserves were a threat to economic stability,” he added
But in a swift reaction, the President has said there is no cause for alarm on the economy. Jonathan, through his campaign office described Abubakar’s claim as unfounded.
A statement by the Director, Media and Publicity of Goodluck/Sambo Presidential Campaign Organisation, Mr. Sully Abu, said, “Abubakar has kept on his drumbeat of doom and gloom on the state of the economy. We will, however, not join any polemical war by those who insist on whipping up hysteria on this or on any other issue through use of selective evidence that can in no way present the whole picture.
Source:http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20101025215381
No comments:
Post a Comment