The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO), a pro-Buhari group, has lashed out at PDP’s Presidential candidate for statements he made about the recently proposed budget.
Atiku had said that there were 6 reasons why the budget would not work and that Nigeria is still in a recession.
Defending Buhari and his government, BMO’s Chairman, Niyi Akinsiju, and Secretary, Cassidy Madueke said in a statement that Atiku’s knowledge of the economy is sketchy
“How could a man described as one with economic know-how say a country whose Gross Domestic Product stood at 1.81 per cent in the third quarter of 2018 compared to 1.17 per cent the previous year had not exited recession?
“Even his statement that indicated that there was a 1.5 per cent growth in the second quarter of 2018 is a clear pointer to a sure and steady growth backed by a non-oil GDP growth of 2.01 per cent in the same quarter as a result of the current administration’s faithful implementation of its Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.
“In addition, we have had three budget cycles since 2015 that have spurred on massive infrastructural growth with 1,531 kilometres of roads constructed and 1,008 kilometres rehabilitated across the country as well as a massive railway construction, yet the PDP presidential candidate wants Nigerians to believe that the 2019 budget proposal and the previous ones were bad.
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“We make bold to say that contrary to Atiku’s position, the budget will build on the sure and steady progress the country has witnessed in so many facets of life and attain the 2019 projection of 3.01 per cent growth.”
“It will be recalled that the PDP presided over what would go down in history as one of the worst times in the country’s political history.
“After years of higher oil revenue, the PDP ensured that over 100 million Nigerians were living on less than $1 a day in 2012 as confirmed by the World Bank.
“Nearly 61 per cent of Nigerians were living in extreme poverty at that time while an audit report by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative showed that the country earned $62.9bn that same year.”
“It was around this time that over 800 companies shut down and tens of thousands of Nigerians were pushed into the unemployment market, and that did not include government-owned enterprises that were privatised under the supervision of Atiku Abubakar between 1999 and 2007.”