Dr. Katch Ononuju, an Abuja based economist has described President Muhamadu Buhari’s latest approval of N700bn from the relief fund to offset the backlog of outstanding salaries, and monies owed contractors, as a contradiction and a reflection of his cluelessness on the state of the economy.
Katch, in an exclusive interview with POST NIGERIA, doubted Buhari’s understanding of how the economy operates, re-instated that the bail-out is a far departure from Buhari’s earlier “empty treasury” stance.
He therefore cautioned Buhari and politicians in his administration to stop degrading and spreading lies about the economy.
- “The Government seems not to know where to go right now.
“Right now the Government is clueless because if the driver of a vehicle suddenly has the passengers in the vehicle fighting even before it has left the park, I think that could be described as being clueless
“There is nothing like an empty treasury.
“I believe Buhari was just lying with his empty treasury statement. Nigeria is not poor and the economy is not broke. They should stop talking down about Nigeria.”
Buhari had earlier painted a gloomy picture of Nigeria’s economy to the international community when he said he met an almost empty treasury and huge debts left behind by his predecessor.
He further called for patience from Nigerians in the tradition of expecting dividends from campaign promises within 100 days of his administration.
Onunju, who had expected Buhari to hit the ground running immediately he got into office, regretted the slow and sluggish start in his administration and blamed the Governors for their repeated call to deplete the huge saving in the coffers of the economy.
He also went down memory lane to state that since independence Nigeria has never saved money except during the Jonathan administration.
- “So far he has hit the ground and sat there, Nigeria has never saved money since independence, the first time Nigeria saved money was in the Jonathan administration.
“When he saved the money, the Governors went to court saying he should share the money,we have money in the sovereign wealth fund to the tune of 30.8Billion.
“This means we have money paid from the FIRS, Customs and others”
Meanwhile, in a quick move to set the records straight, the Presidency has debunked the statement made by the Accountant General of the Federation, AGF, Ahmed Idris that the balance of the Excess Crude Account, ECA, has been approved by Buhari.
Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, in a statement disclosed that the position of the AGF was wrong and should be disregarded.
Ahmed Idris had disclosed on Monday that he met between $1.6 billion and $1.7 billion in the Excess Crude Account.
According to him, this amount will be distributed among the three tiers of Government based on the approved formula.
In swift response the Presidency stated in a statement that the comment was incorrect.
The statement reads in part: “Reports in sections of the media today that funds will be drawn from the Excess Crude Account for the relief package approved by President Muhammadu Buhari for states and local governments, are incorrect.
- “The measures approved by President Buhari definitely do not include drawing down the remaining balance in the Excess Crude Account or the “liquidation” of the account as some media outlets has wrongly reported.’’
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