See what buhari said about current state of NIgerian economy

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday stated that
he will always say the truth about the nation’ s
economy while blaming the immediate past
President Goodluck Jonathan-led Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) administration for wrecking
the economy for “personal gain”.
He also faulted statements credited to the PDP that
he is “demarketing” Nigeria with his public
speeches on corruption by former public officials.
“Nigerians will hear only the truth on the economy
and the state of the nation from President
Muhammadu Buhari”, the Presidency said last
night.
It alleged that the Jonathan-led PDP government
lied to Nigerians on the state of the economy
which was found to be in dire straits contrary to
that government’s claims.
“President Buhari will remain true to the virtues of
honesty, integrity, sincerity, incorruptibility and
plain-speaking which endeared him to Nigerians
and made them prefer his leadership to that of a
lying and deceptive PDP administration.
“The President will not, in the guise of ‘marketing’
the country, refrain from telling Nigerians and the
world, the emerging truths about the abject state in
which years of plundering by a PDP leadership has
left the Nigerian treasury and economy.
“President Buhari will not in the name of
‘marketing’ or ‘attracting’ investors, follow in the
footsteps of the ousted PDP Administration and its
discredited officials who shamelessly lied to
Nigerians and the world about the buoyancy and
vibrancy of an economy they had bled dry for
personal gain, when it was very obvious to the
discerning, that the Nigerian economy was headed
for serious trouble,” Presidential Spokesman Femi
Adesina, said in a statement.
The Presidency condemned PDP spokesman Olisa
Metuh’s statement that the President has been
“demarketing Nigeria “with his public stance on
corruption.
“We restate for the umpteenth time to Mr. Metuh
and his ilk that their attempts to distract President
Buhari from the job he has been elected to do will
fail,” the Presidency said, adding: “It is most
unfortunate that instead of showing some
remorsefulness for the harm done to the nation by
his party, and giving genuine support for President
Buhari’s efforts to salvage and revamp the national
economy, Mr. Metuh persisted in a vain attempt to
remain relevant on the national stage by unjustly
denigrating the President who continued to strive
with all his might to alleviate and reverse the harm
done to the nation by PDP misrule and corruption.”
Mr. Metuh’s antics, the statement said, were futile.
“President Buhari cannot be distracted by a broken
record. If the PDP spokesman ever has serious
matters to bring to our attention, we will be
prepared to listen,” it stated
In his party’s statement Metuh claimed that recent
statements on the state of the economy credited to
President Buhari were capable of harming Nigeria’s
image.
PDP observed that instead of making efforts to
harness resources and grow the economy, Buhari
has continued to scare away investors.
According to the opposition, the President has
continued to apply himself perhaps unwittingly, to
demarketing the nation through negative labelling
of Nigerians and unwarranted unhealthy portrayal
of the economy.
The party added that the President’s “unwary
statements” have become very serious clogs in the
wheel of progress, eroding the confidence of both
domestic and international investors in Nigeria’s
socio-economic system.
The statement reads: “It is worrisome that in the
last six months, the President, instead of making
efforts to harness resources and grow the
economy, has rather continued to apply himself,
perhaps unwittingly, to demarketing the nation and
scaring away investors through negative labeling of
Nigerians and unwarranted unhealthy portrayal of
the nation’s economy.
“In the last six months, our President has only
succeeded in discouraging foreign investors with
his continued misrepresentation of our country as a
business unfriendly environment, where most of
the citizens are basically corrupt, dishonest, and
cannot be trusted.
“Whereas we have restated our total support for the
war against corruption, we insist that Mr.
President’s unceasing blanket negative labelling of
citizens, in a country where millions of honest and
hardworking individuals/firms are genuinely
contributing daily to the development effort, is
indeed a disservice and injurious to the nation and
the people.
“Furthermore, Mr. President’s recent announcement
to the world that the nation, with its abundant
human and natural resources, is broke and cannot
pay cabinet ministers not only sends a
discouraging signal to the domestic and
international business community, but also
exposes the ineptitude of the present
administration to meaningfully and sincerely exert
itself and work with industrious and innovative
investors to create and manage wealth.
“We ask; how can any reasonable investor still
have the confidence to invest in a country where
the President himself continues to alert that his
country reeks of corrupt people and that the
government is broke to the extent it cannot pay
cabinet ministers?
“Is the President not directly advising investors
against having confidence in Nigeria and the
system, and that they risk not being paid for jobs
awarded by government at any level?