Economic recession: PDP calls for President Buhari's resignation

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Opposition party PDP has called for the resignation of President Buhari following the new statistics released Wednesday by the National Bureau of Statistics, indicating that Nigeria is currently experiencing economic recession. The party made the call in a statement released today. Part of the statement reads:

'Nothing better showcases the absolute ineptitude and incompetence of the Muhammadu Buhari administration than the GDP, Inflation and unemployment figures released by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics today. 

These figures reveal what we have repeatedly said over the last 15 months , President Buhari is destroying the Nigerian economy. 

For the avoidance of doubt, some of these figures include: GDP contracted by -2.06% in Q2 2016. In contrast, the economy grew by 2.35% in Q2 2015. This was worse than -0.36% in Q1 2016. Headline Inflation for July 2016 stands at 17.1%. It was 16.5% in June 2016. Food inflation was 15.58% for July 2016 from 15.3% in June 2016. Portfolio investment declined to $245.3m in Q2 2016. This is a 9.5% from $271.0m in Q1 2016 & is a far cry from $2.81bn in Q2 2015. FDI declined from $211.1m in Q2 2015 and $174.4m in Q1 2016 to an estimated $133.0m in Q2 2016. Total value of capital imported in Q2 2016 is estimated at mere $647.1m. 

This is the lowest quarterly figure since Nigeria started keeping records of capital importation. It is a decline from $710.9 m in Q1 2016 & a far cry from $2.67bn in Q2 2015. A total of 4,580,602 people have lost their jobs since May 29, 2015. The number of persons in full time employment decreased by 351,350 in Q2 2016 compared to Q1 2016. 

The result of these indices is that Nigeria is in its worst economic state for 29 years – dating back to 1987 when the nation had to take harsh steps to recover from President Buhari's policies of 1984-85. As with 1984-85, companies are fleeing our shores in droves. 

Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) recently stated that more than 272 companies have shut down in the past 1 year. Furthermore, like we suffered in 1984-85, we are suffering a brain drain where our best & brightest talents are leaving the country in search of a better life elsewhere. 

It is disheartening that the Buhari administration is destroying the Nigerian economy & our collective future by the implementation of his archaic & incoherent economic policies which failed in 1984-85 & are failing spectacularly now. Our dismay is made worse by the fact that every sphere of the Nigerian socio-political space (ranging from the conduct of elections human rights, respect for the rule of law, security, technology, health etc) is negatively affected by Buhari's government. 

We join all well meaning Nigerians to call on Buhari to resign if he is unable to reverse the economic decline he has brought on us. May God bless Nigeria, especially in these very difficult times".