The Vice President of Nigeria, Kashim Shettima has exonerated the former President Muhhamdu Buhari led administration for the current challenges being faced by the President Tinubu’s government.
Shettima made the revelation at the second Chronicle Roundtable, hosted by the 21st Century Chronicle. He maintained that the present circumstances facing Nigeria were caused by multi-faceted factors.
The VP, however, stated that rather than opting for an easy way out, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu made a difficult decision for the benefit of the country.
He said: “The President chose the option that will save the lives of the people. Instead of the ones that will lead to the prolonged economic death. We will not resort to blame the previous administration as leadership is about courage and continuity.
“Before we took charge, the biggest elephant in the room was about fuel subsidy removal. It was an albatross round the neck of the nation for the past 20 to 30 years. We understood why our predecessor decided to remove the subsidy. Because there was no sufficient budget for it in the fiscal year.
“A year before we took office, Nigeria’s debt service to revenue ratio had grown to 111.18 percent. It was an economic death sentence. To be plain to us, our debt service was that if you earn N100,000, you are forced to borrow an additional N11,800 to pay the debtor. How do we intend to survive this? It will be long before we become a pariah.”
The VP added that the subsidy regime’s deliberate corruption has resulted in the diversion of resources from vital sectors.
“We have to jettison the subsidy regime. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but we had to do it.”
Speaking on the economy reforms been carried out by the present administration, Shettima gave thumbs up for the results.
“A presidential candidate in the last election, eager to mock our economic trajectory once pointed Argentina as a model to Nigeria. He became an overnight market specialist. He was convinced that we had missed our way. And that we should have adopted the ways of our friends in South America.
“Barely two weeks, we watched as Argentina’s inflation rate surged. We respect what the President is doing there but governance is not photocopying.”
Shettima said that the Naira was saved by the CBN and NSA’s involvement to neutralize powerful currency manipulators. He noted that these elements had plotted to thwart its reforms.
“Today, I stand proud to say that our intervention has translated into desirable goals. Naira speculators were projecting that the Naira would go as far as N5,000 to the Dollar. Some bought the Dollar at the rate of N2,000 from banks.”
source: The Nation
