A sharp division between governors from the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) and key opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on the trending issue of Nigeria’s announced exit from economic recession has been observed.
Whereas Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, Akinwumni Ambode of Lagos and Rochas Okorocha of Imo State were among early callers from the APC, congratulating the federal government on the feat, Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Ayo Fayose, River State governor, Barr Nyesom Wike have maintained hard-line on the matter stressing that Nigerians are just been driven by data manufacturing and distribution by the government.
Wike who spoke recently in Lagos averred that he is yet to believe that Nigeria is out of recession because there are no economic indices to support the claim.
In an interview, the Rivers State Governor argued that the talk about Nigeria being out of recession is mere political gimmicks aimed at hoodwinking the people.
According to him, “the talk of Nigeria out of recession is another ploy by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to keep Nigerians busy, said there are no signs to show that the country has indeed moved out of recession”.
“When you say you are out of recession, it has an implication. The implication is that the economy has bounced back. When the economy has bounced back, it means there is food on the table for people to eat.
“For the government, it means there is money for states to embark on infrastructure and development of their various areas. But you can see that most politicians try to deceive the people who have given them the mandate and their votes to represent them.
“I don’t believe that Nigeria is out of recession because there must be signs to show that we are out of recession. All these things they are saying about Nigeria out of recession are gimmicks. Each time, the ruling party has a problem, they find one thing to talk about in order to keep on moving so that Nigerians can continue to believe in them. That to me is not correct. You can no longer continue to deceive Nigerians.
“It is just like former Vice President Atiku Abubakar said, there must be signs to show that we are out of recession. If truly we are out, what is the impact on the economy? When the economy is good, there are indices to show that is back and has come out of recession. So, I don’t believe that statement. It is not correct to say that we are out of recession”, he said.
Business Hilights recalls that penultimate Tuesday; the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had announced that the economy which went into recession in early 2016 has come out of it during the second quarter following a 0.55 positive growth.
However, astute development economists have cautioned Nigerians and mainly policy makers not to be deceived by the new data from NBS to avoid running into financial misappropriations’ that will sink the economy again.
According to them, exit from recession takes time to indicate observable effects on the economy.
This was further driven home by the chief executive of PricewaterCoopers (PwC), leading audit firm which said that clear signals of exit from recession will manifest from 2019.
