APC Govt failed on economy, says parties
The administration of the All Progressives Congress (APC), led by President Muhammadu Buhari, has been rated low on national economy as the Country celebrates its democracy day with political parties and politicians giving their assessment of the state of affairs in Nigeria with the impression that the party has not done well.
The National Chairman of the African Democratic Party (ADP), Sani Yagbaji, said in an interview yesterday in Abuja that apart from the opportunity it offered for freedom of choice and end to military rule, the democratic experience has been very turbulent.
“You see, if you look at the value of Naira which is the measure or determiner of productivity up of the economy, If anything, it has gone down, and by the day, it is going down. So, democracy has not really brought much to the people in terms of economy – I am talking in terms of deliverables, in terms on the economic impacts on the people.
He said: “You can talk of freedom, that yes, you have freedom of choice, but even that freedom of choice, is also to a large extent being hijacked by rigging. So, often than not, you don’t find the wishes of the people expressed, what is happening is different from what people want”.
On how he would describe the last three years of the APC-led administration, Yagbaji said: “I think what has happened to Nigeria is a tragedy. Three years of APC is a tragedy because you know what I mean, it is a tragedy. Tragedy in the sense that, things that the government should do have not been done.
“Three years on, they are still making appointments. Key political, economic positions, statutory bodies that are supposed to really guide, manage and advise on how the economy should be run. Still, some of them are not yet on board”.
On his part, the Labor Party National Chairman, Abdulsalam Abdulkadir said the country has witnessed abuses of human rights and disrespect to rule of law lamenting what he described as growing poverty and suffering in the country.
“There is nothing to celebrate on this democracy day, what we are witnessing is mere civilian rule but with military mentality.
What we have, there is no respect to law and order. You can see the report of the international human rights organization on the rate of abuses in the country.
In terms of development, Nigeria is still backwards, we are still a consumer nation with not much local products to export. There is poverty everywhere and people are suffering terribly in this country.
“On the wellbeing of the people, most state governments owe workers salary and pension. As a result many pensioners are dying out of hardship and frustration.
The way forward is for Nigerians to prepare to install a new government that will remedy the shortcomings of the APC-led administration in 2019”, he said.
