Peter Obi, vice-presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP), says Nigeria’s economy will keep “bleeding” if President
Muhammadu Buhari remains in power for another four years.
Speaking in Lagos on Saturday, Obi made reference to the 2019 budget Buhari presented to the national assembly on Wednesday.
According to him, Nigeria will not survive
if Buhari’s goes ahead with plans to tax “poor Nigerians,” in line
with provisions of the proposed budget which is largely focused on debt
servicing.
“We need to know where we are going as a nation
but with Buhari at the helms of affairs, we do not know where we are
going. Buhari is not in charge of this government as he does not know or
care what the poor people are going through,” he said.
“Nigerians
are currently the poorest people on earth, yet the Muhammadu Buhari
administration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is still looking
at taxing them the more.
“Take look at the budget presented by
the President a few days ago and you will see that it does not give
anyone hope instead, it tells us that we are still where we have always
been.
“A quarter of the budget is meant to service debts, and
that is about 60% of the budget while the President keeps telling
Nigerians to tighten their belts because of the harsh times staring at
us in the future.
“Does that give anyone confidence in this
government? Not at all, I dare say. While presenting the budget, he said
that the government is looking for ways to tax Nigerians the more. What
are you taxing the poor people for?
“Does that give any one
of us hope in this government? That means that if we keep them for the
next four years, we are finished.”
Outlining what Atiku
Abubakar, PDP presidential candidate, will do to “reverse the situation”
if elected to power, Obi said focus will be placed on reviving small
and medium enterprises (SMEs).
He said Atiku’s administration
will restore investor confidence and improve ease of doing business in
the country to stimulate economic growth.
“We know the
situation looks gloomy but we are not scared of going in to salvage the
country. The situation with Nigeria is like an accident victim. The
first thing to do in such a situation is to stop the bleeding first by
applying first aid before the real treatment,” he said.
“Unless the right steps are taken to stop the bleeding, we will still be where we have been for years.
“It’s
going to be difficult but we know where we are going and what we are
going to do. To put the Nigerian economy back on a sound footing, we
have to take a holistic look at SMEs because only then will you rescue
the dwindling economy.
“We need to change the way we do things in
this country if we ever hope to come out of this economic quagmire we
have found ourselves in. We must change the way we do things in this
country or we will continue to grope in the dark.”
Source:- Thecableng
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