Television Nigerian

The ruling All Progressives Congress has accused the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election, Mr Peter Obi, of promoting his personal and political ambition against the best interest of the nation.

The party stated this in reaction to Obi’s statement on Monday that the country’s economy has seen unprecedented retrogression on many fronts for the past nine years under the APC government.

He stated that urgent actions need to be taken to salvage the nation from further economic collapse, and efforts should be concentrated on finding ways to recreate an inclusive and sustainable economy and pull millions of Nigerians out of poverty.

In a statement on Tuesday in Abuja signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, the ruling party alleged that Obi is attempting to cash in on the current situation to mobilise mass outrage against President Bola Tinubu.

The APC said Obi’s latest comment on the country’s economic situation is a blend of half-truths, blatant distortions and misinformation calculated to turn Nigerians against Tinubu.

It also berated the former Governor of Anambra State for claiming that the Tinubu administration was making no efforts to tackle poverty and unemployment in the country and described him as a loquacious and disruptive backseat driver.

The  statement read, “The presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general elections and former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, has continued, unabashedly, to showcase his obsessive devotion to self-promotion against the best interest of Nigeria

“Mr. Obi’s latest statement on the country’s economic situation is an admixture of half-truths, blatant distortions and misinformation calculated to mobilise outrage against the All Progressives Congress (APC) government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“His warped conclusion that Nigeria’s economic crisis was caused by nine years of APC-led administration is a highly revisionist, dishonest, distorted and deliberately misleading assessment of the country’s economic trajectory in the last decade. He opined, rather mischievously, that no efforts were being made by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration to tackle poverty and unemployment in the country.”

The APC also blamed successive Peoples Democratic Party administrations for the economic decline and current hardship being experienced by Nigerians, saying that the country’s GDP growth plummeted from 7.98% in 2010 to 2.79% in 2015.

According to the ruling party, the growth recorded during the PDP tenures was due entirely to the high price of crude oil, stressing that the country’s earnings were stolen.

It added, “The facts tell a far more complex and different story. The country’s economic decline began under the watch of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), with GDP growth plummeting from 7.98% in 2010 to 2.79% in 2015. And since 2015, the global oil price crash, geopolitical tensions, climate change, global COVID pandemic and rising population have all taken a toll on Nigeria’s economy which is almost entirely dependent on drastically reduced oil export earnings.

“The growth recorded during the PDP years was due entirely to the high price of crude oil and the increased government spending that it supported.

“It is noteworthy that between 2007-2014, Nigeria earned $531.2 billion under the PDP, compared to $287.8 billion under APC between 2015-2022. This drastically reduced export earnings under the APC administration was even further stretched thin by the country’s population surge from 184 million in 2015 to 229 million in 2024.

“Despite the huge revenues available to it, successive PDP administrations neglected to address underlying structural challenges and distortions in the economy, leaving the country vulnerable to economic shocks and volatility. Had the PDP undertaken a sustained programme of economic reform as President Tinubu is currently engaged, Nigeria’s economic situation would be far better than it is today.”

The APC asserted that the Tinubu administration is focused on tackling the country’s challenges through economic diversification, massive infrastructure development, social welfare, and other government policies.

It stated that Obi would not acknowledge the bold and thoughtful policy interventions of Tinubu’s administration due to selfish desperation to become the president.

The statement added, “Quite contrary to Obi’s jaundiced and gloomy analysis, in the last year alone, the country has attracted over $20 billion into the economy, aside from recording an all-time high N6.52 trillion trade surplus in the first quarter of 2024, marking a positive shift from a long history of trade deficits.

“Despite clearing the backlog of the foreign exchange debts owed to foreign airlines and other economic actors by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the nation’s foreign reserves have continued to expand, hitting upwards of $34 billion, the highest in recent times. Capital inflow into the country increased by 66.27 per cent this year alone.

“Notable financial experts and the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report that for the first time in our economic history, the All Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) crossed the 100,000 benchmarks this year, making the Nigerian Stock Exchange currently about the most profitable capital market in the world with a return on investment (RoI) as high as 22.90 per cent.

“The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects that the nation’s economy will have a 3.1 per cent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in 2024, one of the highest projections for any African country.

“Initiatives such as the Credit Corps, Students Loans, the newly approved minimum wage, the construction of the 700-kilometre Lagos-Calabar coastal highway, and many more are tailor-made by President Tinubu to combat poverty and expand economic opportunities for Nigerians.”