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Nigeria’s economy on the brink of collapse – Sanusi

September 25, 2021 No Comments

A former Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, lamented on Friday that Nigeria’s economy was on the verge of total collapse.

Sanusi, who stated this at the ongoing Kaduna Investment Summit, added that oil, the country’s major source of foreign exchange was about to die.

He stressed that many countries across the world are shifting their focus from fossil fuel to alternative sources of energy.

Sanusi said: “Globally, work is being redefined. 30 to 40 percent of workers in developed economies will need to significantly upgrade their skills by 2030. What are the major drivers of this redefinition? A few of such are ICT and remote working which we had seen even here with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There is increased automation and artificial intelligence. Very soon, robots will take over work in most countries and those who would have hob are those who operate the robots or manufacture the robots, or service the robot.

“And you have decarbonisation. For us in Nigeria, the enclave economy that we have, the so-called goose that lays the golden egg is about to die. There will be no eggs. The future is not in the carbons.

A few months ago, Germany was able to produce enough renewable energy for the entire country’s need. Today, we are having difficulties selling Nigerian oil. So, not only are we having problems producing, even when we produce, the market is not there.

“So, this is forcing a change, and for us a country that depends on oil, things need to change.

“Nigeria is ranked 114th in the global innovation index. We are lower than other African countries such as Kenya, Rwanda, and Senegal. We are in fact ranked 14th in sub-Saharan Africa. I think we should have this reality check and know where we are as a country. Let’s stop calling ourselves the giant of Africa because we are the giant with clay feet.

Countries like Kenya, Rwanda, and Senegal are ahead of us. I am not even talking about South Africa. Our expenditure on education is only seven percent of the budget. We are spending less on education than Ghana; I am not talking about as per the percentage of the budget; in absolute terms, even though the Ghanaian economy is much smaller than the Nigerian economy, even though the Ghanaian government revenue is less than Nigerian revenue, Ghana is spending more on education than Nigeria.

“And we are surprised that industries are moving to Ghana. We are surprised that the Ghanaian President has become the leading President in Africa. We are not investing in education and human capital.

We have a 68 percent missing job requirements and the major areas being IT, communication and decision making. And the completion rate between entry into primary one and completing university is eight percent, meaning that out of every 100 pupils who go into primary school, only eight come out of university. And out of those eight, nine percent, which is one of the eight will get a job.”

Sanusi’s statement confirms our position on Buhari’s govt – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said on Wednesday the recent comments credited to the deposed Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, on the mismanagement of the nation’s economy by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration confirmed its position on the poor performance of the government in the last six years.

Sanusi, who spoke at a colloquium to mark his 60th birthday in Kaduna last Sunday, said the current administration had erased the country’s economic gains in just five years.

The PDP, which reacted to the ex-Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor’s position in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said Sanusi’s declaration directly reflects its position and that of the majority of Nigerians on the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The statement read: “The dire situation is now beyond politics. The PDP calls on more stakeholders to speak out irrespective of ethnicity, creed, and political party affiliations, so as to save the nation from a total collapse.

“The Buhari Presidency and the APC have, in the last six years, only succeeded in destroying every sector of our national life with their manifest incompetence, unbridled corruption, treasury looting, impunity, exclusionist and restrictive economic policies that have brought our nation to her knees.

“Nigerians can recall that the PDP handed over a robust economy, rated the largest hub in Africa and one of the fastest-growing in the world with Fitch B+ rating and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $574 billion to President Buhari and the APC in May 2015.

Sadly, in the last six years, the Buhari-led APC administration has reduced our productive sectors to complete wreckage with alarming 33.3 percent unemployment and 17.38 percent inflation rates.

“Over 60 million hitherto flourishing businesses folded up and the naira crashing from N167 to a dollar in 2015 to N512 under the APC corrupt and directionless watch.

More depressing is that the corrupt APC administration has practically erased all the gains of the debt repayment achieved by the PDP, returned our nation to a beggar state and mortgaged the sovereignty of our country with reckless borrowing and accumulated N33.107 trillion.

“Life has become so unbearable in Nigeria under President Buhari and the APC, that more than 82.9 million Nigerians are no longer able to afford their daily meals and other necessities of life, with our nation now ranking as the poverty capital of the world and 98th out of 107 in Global Hunger Index.

Today, under the APC, a litre of fuel that sold for N87 under the PDP now sells for N165, a bag of rice that sold for N8,000 now sells for N30,000, a measure of garri and beans which sold for N150 and N250 now sells for N600 and N800 respectively; a measure of maize and guinea corn which sold for about N150 now sells for N400, a kilo of meat which sold for about N800 now sells for about N2,300 while a 12.5 kg of cooking gas which sold for N3,000 now sells for over N6,000, all thanks to the incompetence and corruption of the Buhari-led APC administration.

“Furthermore, the compromises of the APC administration have led to the escalation of terrorist activities, banditry, kidnapping, killings, bloody agitations as well as other acts of violence that have turned our nation into a large funeral parlour, with no hope in sight.

Indeed, this is not the way our nation should go. The PDP, therefore, urges more Nigerians to speak out to rescue our nation from this fast descent to a failed state.”