Don't be a hypocrite - APC replies Atiku over economic diversification advice -

The All Progressives Congress (APC) says former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s advice on economic diversification came a little too late.

The party said that while Atiku’s opinions were welcomed, he should have implemented his suggestions given his influence in President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration where he was second-in-command for eight years.

Recall that in an opinion piece titled “How to Pull Nigeria from the Brink”, the 2019 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had lamented Nigeria’s economic challenges and growing debts.

Atiku lampooned some of the present administration’s economic policies, saying the decision to close the nation’s land borders was unjustifiable.

He advised the Muhammadu Buhari administration to shift focus from crude oil dependence and encourage agriculture to improve Nigeria’s economy.

But in a Saturday statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, APC said, “While we appreciate that Atiku Abubakar is keying into this administration’s policy direction regarding diversification, we are only worried that it took him 13 years after leaving office to realise that the Government under which he served as the Vice President was short-sighted for its failure to faithfully diversify the Nigerian economy.

“Not to be confused, Atiku Abubakar had eight years as a powerful Vice President and Chairman of the National Council on Privatisation with vantage opportunity to lead the country away from its dependence on oil. How Nigeria got worse even when international oil prices were stable and high are matters Atiku Abubakar may still need to address in future.”

The statement further read, “For free, we would gladly educate the former Vice President on the several policies this administration has introduced since 2015 to diversify Nigeria’s economy. As far back as 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari launched the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP), an intervention policy primarily aimed at giving farmers access to finance.

“This entails the provision of credit for financing the production of rice, wheat, ginger, maize and soybeans in many states of the federation. This policy driven by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is an initiative that has, in the last four years, provided hundreds of billions of naira for rice farming, cultivation and milling. Few years down the line, Nigeria is now rated the highest producer of rice in Africa, producing over seven million tonnes per annum.

“And just late last year, the APC-led government through the Central Bank of Nigeria has also made available huge funds to our cotton farmers, a move geared towards reviving our moribund textile factories thereby creating millions of direct and indirect jobs.

“Also, as part of the efforts of the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to boost agriculture is the massive successes recorded in the local production of fertiliser. This was one policy personally driven by the President and which has received applause from even his most virulent critics.

“This policy, which is built on a partnership between Nigeria and the Kingdom of Morocco, has led to the resuscitation of 11 blending plants producing about 1.3million tonnes of fertiliser, creation of over 50,000 direct and 150,000 indirect jobs, in addition to farmers having timely access to the product at an affordable price. The contributions of agriculture to the overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has consistently been on the increase and is being captured by the National Bureau of Statistics in the last four years.

“Most heart-warming is the fact that the private sector is keying into the Buhari agenda. An example is the Dangote Group’s ongoing test running of its $2billion fertiliser plant, which would make Nigeria meet all its domestic demand and also make our country a net exporter of fertiliser. So, we ask Atiku: if all these major achievements are not commendable efforts towards diversification of the economy, what are they?

“Atiku said in his article that land border closure is an “insane” policy. We believe that the former Vice President did not consider his position on this matter well enough as the facts leading to the closure of the border clearly justify the temporary closure. Perhaps, Atiku is now at pain that the trans-border security challenge our country was facing and from which he was making a huge political capital is now mostly curtailed. He should have realised the contradiction in his new propositions and the counterproductive business of smuggling of foreign goods into our country through our borders.

“How does the former Vice President expect Nigeria to be a productive economy if we continue to allow neighbouring countries to jeopardise our efforts to grow our own economy?

“Atiku may wish to know that the policy he has unfortunately chosen to label as “insane” has led to a significant spike in rice production across the country, opening up of hundreds of rice mills, indigenous manufacturing firms are sourcing their raw materials locally, boom in poultry farming, with Nigerians now patronising locally made food items like never before and, in the process, boosting the income of farmers and local producers.

“It is heart-warming to know we are coping well as the Coronavirus pandemic and the resultant lockdowns are testing our country’s capacity to feed itself. We have been able to meet the pandemic induced surge in demand for foods only because the APC administration has been implementing policies targeted at expanding the capacity of our farmers and the other players in the allied industries.

“We ask Atiku; where would we have gotten the farm produce for palliatives and feed our people during the lockdown if we had not taken the courageous route of looking inwards while curtailing sabotage from neighbouring economies? In the areas of plugging revenue leakages, curbing waste, diversifying and growing the economy, budgeting, borrowings, ease of doing business, support of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs), the President Muhammadu Buhari government is matching electoral promises with actions.

“Since the launch of the National Action Plan on Ease of Doing Business, being driven by the Presidential Enabling and Business Environment Council (PEBEC), the APC government has aggressively implemented major reforms by reducing the challenges faced by the Minor, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in accessing credits, paying taxes, amongst others.”