Buhari’s govt erased Nigeria’s economic gains in five years – Sanusi

The deposed Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has decried the poor management of the Nigerian economy by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

Sanusi, who spoke at a colloquium organized to mark his 60th birthday in Kaduna State on Saturday, said the government has wiped out in just five years the gains recorded by the Nigerian economy in the last 35 years.

The former Central Bank of Nigeria governor blamed the development on bad decisions by managers of the country’s resources.

According to him, the economy was managed with draconian policies that had pushed the country into two recessions in three years.

Sanusi said: “You look at the World Bank’s economic indicators and you will be shocked at what you are seeing. If we take Nigeria’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per capita on a PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) basis, it was $2,180 in 1980 and by 2014 it increased by 50 percent to $3,099.

“Between 2014 and 2019, this number fell to $2,229. At this rate, by this year or next year, Nigeria’s GDP per capita on a PPP basis will be back to where it was in 1980.

“We have not moved. We wiped out in five years all the progress made in the preceding 35 years. That is the kind of conversation we should have which we are not having.

“And what are the key drivers of this? You have got rising population growth, slow GDP growth, higher rates of inflation, and devaluation of the currency.”

The deposed monarch urged Nigerians to interrogate the current administration on its social policies and efforts to address the country’s challenges instead of focusing on religion and other inanities.

He added: “Rather than being a religious issue, the rapid increase in population has made farmlands become houses while grazing routes have become farms, leading to escalating conflicts between herdsmen and farmers over resources.

“90 percent of government revenue goes to debt servicing and we are still borrowing. We are spending trillions of Naira on fuel subsidy.

“And then, we get the CBN to print trillions of Naira because we cannot pay salaries if we do not print the money. When the money is printed, we create inflation and devalue the currency.”