Bad Policies, Bad Governance Responsible for Failing Economy, Not Merely Stealing of Public Funds, ANRP States

ABUJA, 17 September 2018 — Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP) refutes as false the claims by the Nigerian Presidency that stealing in the past was responsible for poor economic performance, and has urged the Presidency to be honest in all public communications, avoid misleading the public, and to focus more on delivering on good governance.

The Presidency made those claims in response to a purported HSBC report, and also accused the bank of being an enabler of stealing by the late head of state Sani Abacha, calling on it to refund the monies; a response the Party finds puerile, diversionary, and problematic.

Under the current regime of President Muhammadu Buhari which began in May 2015, began experiencing a negative growth from January 2016 consistently for 6 months culminating in an economic recession by June of same year. By July the regime was still living in denial leading the erstwhile finance minister Kemi Adeosun to partially admit that Nigeria was only ‘technically’ in a recession.

ANRP Headquarter

The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has confirmed very poor economic performance by this regime resulting in loss of millions of jobs, increasing, numbers of out-of-school children, increasing poverty leading to Nigeria becoming the poverty capital of the world with the highest number of people living in extreme poverty, and the highest percentage thereof, etc. These cannot be due to wrong deeds of the past but rather the incompetence of this present regime.

The Party also notes that in June 2008, the current president had publicly stated that General Abacha did not steal from Nigeria’s public treasury and has never corrected that declaration. He cannot therefore be approbating and reprobating at the same time. ANRP also has seen no record where this regime called on HSBC or any bank for that matter to refund illegal monies in their custody. Doing so at this time in response to a report deemed as unfavourable is in bad faith. This insincere call to HSBC itself would most likely not be pursued to the end, as usual.

ANRP had earlier rejected the use of the refunded $322 million Abacha loot to finance President Buhari’s reelection bid under the guise of an opaque and unsustainable conditional cash transfer (CCT) programme. This poor decision was magnified recently when the same regime was in China days ago to borrow an amount in the same neighborhood as the amount of the recovered funds being shared.

Further to this, official NBS records indicate a very poor economic performance for the first half of 2018 and a negative economic growth for the second quarter. The Debt Management Office (DMO) reports that Nigeria’s current debt profile stands at an unprecedented N22.7 trillion as at June from N12.12 in June 2015, with nothing to show for it.

It goes without saying, with evidence, that this regime’s stay in office spells but further doom.

The partisanship demonstrated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the matter of the purported report by the bank stands condemned.

Learn more about us at: www.anrp.org.ng and Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and SoundCloud: @AbundantNigeria

Sesugh Akume
National Spokesman

Office Telephone: 09064796674 (9 am – 5 pm)
Email: nationalspokesman@anrp.org.ng