In view of ongoing national discourse to revive Nigeria’s ailing economy, a ranking member of the PDP & former member of Ahmed Makarfi’s led PDP caretaker committee, Barrister Kabiru Usman has warned against the already approved sale of valuable national assets meant for generation of funds to be plunged into the country.
Barr. Kabir however stressed the urgent need for President Buhari to quickly redirect and re-engineer his government by dissolving and re-constituting of a new cabinet.
The call came in view of the severe implications of the current economic downturn on the purchasing power of Nigerians which is mainly due to the lacklustre decision making process of the Muhammadu Buhari led administration alongside its numerous policy somersaults.
Barrister Kabir Usman in a media statement warned the present administration to immediately halt the idea of disposing valuable national assets like the NNPC, NPA, NLNG and other prized institutions including petroleum refineries and depots saying it will amount to tactically returning Nigeria to the era of colonial rule and glaring neocolonialism with far reaching national security implications.
According to the former caretaker committee member, the already approved sale of national assets is an admittance of failure on the part of the administration of Muhammadu Buhari and against the social contract the APC entered with Nigerians during its campaign ahead of the 2015 general elections which sold a along with their messages a change mantra.
Usman said it is anti-people for government to dispose national assets. He reminded canvassers of the idea of similar sales which happened through privatization along with tax concessions at ridiculous price tags that ended up with job loss implications which eventually widened the social and economic gaps between Nigerians.
“We have forgotten so soon the role of the Bureau for public enterprise (BPE), which supervised the sales of our national assets by re-cycling the well to do in society and empowering a selected few against ordinary citizens of Nigeria thereby promoting inequality”.
He frowned against the current constitution of the cabinet and a shadow economic team, which is short of expectations. He urged President Buhari to dissolve the current cabinet and bring on board robust technocrats and renowned economic experts who will rejig the Nigerian economy.
Barr. Usman accused ministers and APC state governors of endorsing and ratifying the sales of national assets at a recent NEC meeting saying that no matter the definition of the term used, national assets remain Nigeria’s Commonwealth which belong to ordinary Nigerians.
“How can an economic team be formed without inputs and representation of organized private sector? Most successful world economies are private sector driven in line with goals of government which aim to rejuvenate and stabilize the economy”. Barrister Kabiru queried.