Buhari blames PDP over current spate of woes for not saving when oil prices were high

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has blamed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the current spate of socio-economic woes afflicting the country saying that its 16 years of governance led to a near collapse of the economy.

 

Nigeria is currently in the throes of an economic crisis following the collapse of crude oil prices to below $40 a barrel from a high of over $100 last year. There is also a chronic petrol shortage in the country while power supply is very epileptic and foreign exchange is acutely scarce due to the limited availability of US dollars.

 

Speaking while receiving a delegation of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), led by its president Dr Bernard Aliyu, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, President Buhari said the PDP failed to save for the rainy day when oil prices were high.  He explained that the country witnessed a decline in the quality of infrastructural development over the last 16 years in spite of the boom in oil prices.

 

President Buhari said: “In the First Republic, more enduring infrastructure was built with meagre resources but in the past 16 years, we made a lot of money without planning for a rainy day. We showed a lot of indiscipline in managing our economy and that is why we are where we are today.

 

“Nigeria needs to work on her potential, so that we don’t remain permanently at the level of potential. If Ethiopia is sustained largely by her airline industry, we have greater potential here but we must move out, engage with the rest of the world, as we need to re-establish the integrity of this country”

 

He said Nigeria needed to grow beyond emphasising its potential and assured Nigerians that his administration would do its best to develop the economy beyond rhetoric. Mr Aliyu, the Nigerian-born ICAO president, commended President Buhari for his commitment to fight corruption and urged Nigerians to stand with their president in the on-going war against graft.

 

Mr Aliyu added: “Civil aviation is a catalyst for economic development. The level of aviation development in any country mirrors the economic development of that country.”

 

In addition, Mr Aliyu also pledged to support the development of the aviation industry in Nigeria, urging the country to improve on training and capacity development, aviation security, aerodromes and air navigation, runways, control towers and terminal buildings. In Ibadan, Oyo State's Governor Abiola Ajimobi took a cue from President Buhari and attributed the pervading economic woes besetting the country to past regimes’ failure to save for the rainy day during the oil boom, which, he said was worsened by the neglect of agriculture.