Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the coming general elections, has disclosed that more Nigerians are in misery currently, compared to 2015 before the rise of the All Progressives Congress.
Atiku, who was vice president between 1999 and 2007, made the remarks on Tuesday, September 13, at the Private Sector Economic Forum organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) in Lagos.
He lamented;
More Nigerians are poorer and more miserable today than in 2015.
Basic commodities are now beyond the reach of the average Nigerian. A loaf of bread costs 100% more today than it did in 2020.
Farmers now pay more than 200% more for a bag of fertilizer – if they see it – than they did in 2020.
The APC-led government is dressing Nigeria in borrowed robes! Nigeria is broke. Nigeria under the APC-led government has consistently run-on budget deficits since it came to power in 2015. These budget deficits are often above the three per cent threshold permissible under the Fiscal Responsibility Law.
The former vice president thinks that less wealthy countries have displaced Nigeria from its prestigious status as Africa’s top investment destination.
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The issues facing the country’s economy, society, politics, and security have persisted and are starting to take on scary proportions, he continued.
Atiku also criticised the country’s extreme poverty and alarming unemployment rate, which he claimed were two of the main causes of the country’s unrest.
However, if elected in the upcoming general elections, he made some suggestions about the actions his administration will take to address the country’s security issues and boost its economy.
He also stressed;
We will take tough and difficult decisions on security matters without fear or favour. Investment is a coward animal and is fearful of conflicts and insecurity. I will break the jinx in infrastructure financing.
The Nigerian economy is crawling rather than growing. Per capita income, a measure of citizens’ well-being, has progressively fallen since 2015 because of declining output and a fast-growing population. Nigerians are worse off today than they were in 2015.
