Peter Obi, the vice
presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said, on Saturday,
December 22, 2018, that Nigeria’s economy will keep “bleeding” if President
Muhammadu Buhari remains in power for another four years.
Speaking in Lagos on
Saturday, December 22, 2018, Obi made reference to the 2019 budget President
Buhari presented to the National Assembly on Wednesday.
According to him, Nigeria
will not survive if the President goes ahead with plans to tax “poor
Nigerians,” in line with provisions of the proposed budget, which is largely
focused on debt servicing.
He said: “We need to know where we are going as a
nation but with Buhari at the helms of affairs, we do not know where we are
going. Buhari is not in charge of this government as he does not know or care
what the poor people are going through.
“Nigerians are currently
the poorest people on earth, yet the Muhammadu Buhari administration of All
Progressives Congress, APC, is still looking at taxing them the more.
“Take look at the budget
presented by the President a few days ago and you will see that it does not
give anyone hope, instead, it tells us that we are still where we have always
been.
“A quarter of the budget is
meant to service debts, and that is about 60 per cent of the budget while the
President keeps telling Nigerians to tighten their belts because of the harsh
times staring at us in the future.
“Does that give anyone
confidence in this government? Not at all, I dare say. While presenting the
budget, he said that the government is looking for ways to tax Nigerians the
more.
What are you taxing the
poor people for? “Does that give any one of us hope in this government? That
means that if we keep them for the next four years, we are finished.”
Outlining what Atiku
Abubakar, PDP presidential candidate, will do to “reverse the situation” if
elected to power, Obi said focus will be placed on reviving small and medium
enterprises, SMEs.
He said Atiku’s
administration will restore investor confidence and improve ease of doing
business in the country to stimulate economic growth. “We know the situation
looks gloomy but we are not scared of going in to salvage the country.
The situation with Nigeria
is like an accident victim. The first thing to do in such a situation is to
stop the bleeding first by applying first aid before the real treatment.
“Unless the right steps are
taken to stop the bleeding, we will still be where we have been for years. It’s
going to be difficult but we know where we are going and what we are going to
do.
To put the Nigerian economy
back on a sound footing, we have to take a holistic look at SMEs because only
then will you rescue the dwindling economy.
Read more at Vanguard
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