The South-south chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Tuesday asked Rivers state Governor Nyesom Wike to either join the ruling party publicly or stop associating with its leade.
The party’s stakeholders in the zone also told some APC leaders that their unholy visits to the state on Wike’s invitation was demarketing the party and endorsing the programmes and policies of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state ahead of the 2023 polls.
They therefore urged the Senator Abdullahi Adamu-led National Working Committee (NWC) to call the affected leaders to order.
Wike’s guests
Governor Wike, who has been embroiled in a cold war with the national chairman of the PDP, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, had invited several APC chieftains to commission his administration’s projects in the state.
Between July 8 and August 8, 2022, leading chieftains of the APC, at different times were in Port Harcourt, Rivers state capital, on Governor Wike’s invitation, during which some of them commissioned projects put in place by the PDP-led administration in the state.
The list include Speaker House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila, Lagos state Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Ekiti state Governor John Kayode Fayemi and his Ondo counterpart, Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN).
While Gbajabiamila commissioned the state’s legislative quarters and Sanwo-Olu inaugurated the Port Harcourt Flyover.
APC’s concerns
Taking strong exceptions to what they described as unholy visits of the APC leaders to Governor Wike, the zonal chapter in a statement Tuesday in Abuja, said the rate at which respected APC stalwarts were hobnobbing with the governor has become most worrisome.
The statement was signed by the South-south APC zonal organising secretary, Dr. Blessing Agbomhere.
Agbomhere said he knew Governor Wike was “appreciative of the achievements of Rt. Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi as ex-minister of transportation and APC candidates, most especially the enviable strides of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Senator Kashim Shettima, and President Muhammadu Buhari.”
“As a result of our performance, if Governor Wike wants to join the party he must come in through the front door. We will receive him and save him from those he claimed want to destroy his politĺical future,” he said.
The South-south zonal chapter insisted that the frequent invitation of APC chieftains to commission projects by Governor Wike was not in the best interest of APC at both the sptate and national levels.
He said the influx of APC chieftains into the state was robbing off negatively on the motivation of members and boosting the morale of the opposition PDP.
Agbomhere said: “The worst aspect of the APC chiefs’ visit to Rivers state is that they have failed to identify with the leadership of the ruling party in the state by not also meeting with leaders and members of the party during their stay in the state.”
The statement said: “We want to call on the National leadership of the APC to urgently call some party chieftains who are now flocking to Rivers State and maintaining unholy alliances with Governor Nyesom Wike in the name of commissioning projects, to order.
“While there is nothing wrong with inviting a highly placed personality to commission unfinished projects, but everything is wrong if such uncompleted projects are being used as campaign stunts ahead crucial national elections at hand.
“By identifying with an opposition party at this time, such leaders are indirectly de-marketing our great party especially in a state controlled by the opposition PDP.
“It is unfortunate that the influx of such APC chieftains into the State has proved highly discouraging to members of the Rivers State chapter of the APC who are striving and strategizing daily on how to win positions in the state during the forthcoming general elections.
“The earlier this unholy pilgrimage of our highly revered party stalwarts to Rivers state is nipped in the bud by the National Leadership of the party, the better for APC’s chances in the forthcoming elections in the state.”
While describing Rivers as being critical to the APC victory in the forthcoming presidential, governorship and legislative elections in South-south geo-political zone, it said: “We cannot afford to promote the policies and projects of an opposition ruling party in a state on the one hand and expect to win elections in that state as an opposition party.”
He commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his avowed commitment and support to all APC candidates towards winning the 2023 elections in every state of the federation.
They also lauded the Adamu-led NWC for working round the clock to ensure the party emerges victorious in all positions being contested by its candidates in 2023.
Nigeria’s economy crawling – Atiku
Meanwhile, the PDP presidential candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said the nation’s economy under the Buhari government was crawling rather than growing.
Atiku who stated this while addressing the Private Sector Economic Forum Tuesday in Lagos, also lamented that Nigeria dresses in borrowed robes.
He noted that in times of uncertainty, it is the hallmark of leadership for business and political actors to pause, anticipate, before taking the next steps, adding that “our actions today will have consequences on our tomorrow and the day after.”
The former vice president also described the private sector as key to any government’s development agenda and must be always listened to.
On the economic policy that can lift Nigeria from the abyss, Atiku said he nurtures a desire to create abundant opportunities for people and enhance their capability to explore those opportunities so that they live happy, healthy, and productive life.
Speaking on the state of the Nigerian economy, the PDP presidential candidate lamented that ” the Nigerian economy is crawling rather than growing, Nigeria’s GDP grew at an average rate of less than 1% since the APC assumed power in 2015. Compare this with an average growth of 6.5% in the seven years earlier.
“Per capita income, a measure of citizens’ well-being, has progressively fallen since 2015 because of declining output and a fast-growing population. Nigerians are worse-off today than they were in 2015.”
The former VP said: “The current rate of growth of about 3.5% masks the real challenges facing the economy. The economy remains very fragile as the key sectors are either growing slowly (as with agriculture) or contracting (as with oil and gas). The oil and gas sector, which is the economy’s lifeline has suffered decline in 19 out of 30 quarters since 2014.”
He explained that “more than 23 million people were out of jobs. In just 5 years between 2015 and 2020, the number of fully employed people dropped by 54%, from 68 million to 31 million people.
“Nigeria under the APC-led government has consistently run-on budget deficits since it came to power in 2015. These budget deficits are often above the 3% threshold permissible under the Fiscal Responsibility Law. Ironically, this has increased the government’s appetite for more debts- now more than N50 trillion (if you add AMCON debts and Ways and Means).”
On what he would do to improve the economy, Atiku promised to restore investor confidence in the Nigerian economy to take risks and invest capital by taking the following steps.
He assured that “there will be more clarity, coherence, and consistency (the 3Cs) in policy. Nothing could be more threatening to investment flows than an environment that is full of policy flip-flops.
“Our monetary and fiscal authorities will be better coordinated and shall ensure a stable macro-economic environment with low inflation, stable exchange rate and interest rates that will be supportive of businesses’ quest for credit. (Read my lips: a stable exchange rate, not one Naira to one US$ exchange rate!!!).”
Atiku observed that the government was currently driving key infrastructural programmes with very limited private sector participation, adding that ” in the face of dwindling public revenues and given the quantum of resources required to bridge the financing deficit, this is neither feasible nor sustainable.”
“We shall incentivize, with regulation and tax incentives, a consortium of private sector institutions to establish an Infrastructure Debt Fund [IDF] with an initial carrying capacity of US$20 billion. This will be for the financing and delivery of large infrastructure projects across all sectors of the economy
“We will establish an Infrastructure Development Unit [IDU] in the Presidency, with a coordinating function and a specific mandate of working with the MDAs to fast track and drive the process of infrastructure development in the country,” Atiku said.
As a short-term measure to ensure enhanced power supply within the first year of his administration, Atiku said he would initiate and implement an emergency power programme (EPPs) that can deliver additional capacity in certain key areas.
“Over the medium term, I will then go on to propose a legislation for the removal of the entire electricity value chain from the exclusive list and give states the power to generate, transmit and distribute electricity for themselves.
“Within the first 100 days in office, I will create an Economic Stimulus Fund with an initial investment capacity of approximately US$10 billion to prioritize support to MSMEs across all the economic sectors, as they offer the greatest opportunities for achieving inclusive growth,” the ex-VP said.
“My government will strongly promote private sector investments in agriculture, from seeds to fertilizers, farm chemicals, farm machinery to expand our competitiveness in national, regional and global markets, for commodities in which Nigeria has comparative advantage,” he added.
On restructuring, Atiku said his administration would undertake far reaching fiscal restructuring to improve liquidity and the management of our fiscal resources.
Ò8He also promised to take immediate steps to slow down the rate of debt accumulation by promoting more Public Private Partnerships in critical infrastructure funding and identifying more innovative funding options.
