What is President Buhari doing with the economy? Garba Shehu writes

In the face of the recent report by the
National Bureau of Statistics that the economy
is in recession, Senior Special Assistant to the
President on Media and Publicity, Garba
Shehu, wrote this article explaining what
President Buhari is doing with the
economy. Read below:
LET me start by asking an important question:
who wants to kill racy introspection?xxx
There is a cacophony of voices telling the
Muhammadu Buhari administration to close
its eyes to the past; that given the enormous
tasks that lie ahead, history and its
consequences for our nation should be the
least of the government’s preoccupation at
this juncture.
I disagree. Let us keep a fiery memory of the
past so that we don’t repeat its mistakes. Look
back, look ahead. The future must of
necessity be built on the foundations of the
past.xx The Conservative Party took power in
Britain six years ago from Labour. Check the
British press, they are talking about Labour
24/7, is anyone complaining?
Japheth Omojuwa, one of Nigeria’s top three
influencers seemed tasked in his patience
reacting to calls that we must stop talking
about the immediate past administration in
this country.
“People are still talking about who ran
governments in 1865 you want us to forget
those who left government last year?
(Expletive)”
Music icon, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, who many
agree was a philosopher disguised as Afro-
musician taught in one of his songs that
without knowing where you are coming from,
you won’t know where you are going. Wise
men say that the empty can doesn’t disappear
by simply kicking it down the road.
To avoid repeating the past mistakes,
Nigerians must come to terms with what went
wrong with the past, how bad were things,
what was done wrongly, what the past
government should have done, before we
come to what needs to be done to right those
wrongs. Believe me, episodes from the
Jonathan era can fill books, and other
possibilities such as courtroom drama thriller.
Against this backdrop, I sought to hear our
erudite Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun on
where we are coming from, vis-a-vis the
administration’s chosen path to recovery and
accelerated growth. What is the
administration doing to revitalize the
economy? She spoke at length on the many
measures being put in place, many of which
are not glamorous. They of necessity come
with pain. Why should Nigerians be asked to
endure pains? Why should they be asked to
make adjustments?
The simple explanation is that the economy
was broken, and just as they do the broken
leg, you must bear the pain of fixing it. The
current situation was caused by years of
mismanagement and corruption. As explained
by President Buhari again and again,
trumpeted by Madam Adeosun and other
senior officials, we solely relied on oil, the
price of which was as high as US$140 per
barrel. Government simply reticulated oil
revenue through personal spending by
corrupt leaders, wasteful expenses and
salaries. This was done rather than investing
in what would grow the economy. Economies
grow due to capital investment in assets like
seaports, airports, power plants, railways,
roads and housing. Nigeria has not recorded a
single major infrastructural project in the last
10 years. In short the money was
mismanaged.
In addition to failing to spend money on what
was needed, no savings were made by
Government unlike other countries like Qatar,
Saudi Arabia and Norway. To compound the
problem, the previous government was
borrowing heavily and owed contractors, and
international oil companies. When this
government took over we had accumulated
debt back to the level it was before the Paris
Club Debt Forgiveness.
All these factors were building up to Nigeria
heading for a major crisis if the price of oil
fell. Nigeria did not have fiscal buffers to
withstand an oil shock.
The oil shock should and could have been
foreseen. These are matters that both the Emir
of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II and Professor
Chukwuma Soludo, both of them eminent
former Central Bank Governors had occasions
to warn the government of the day about, but
they were clobbered. The dire warning was
written all over the wall, but they were
ignored by Nigeria’s economic managers.
What should they have done?
They should have had the courage and vision
to do as the present administration is doing
through the Economic Team, the Ministry of
Finance under Madam Adeosun and the
various agencies of the state to envision a
better future by first of all fighting
corruption. Look at what a civilian
administration is today doing to the military,
investigating their finance and accounts that
the military could not do to themselves.
See what the current administration is doing
sanitize the huge salary bill by eliminating
payroll fraud. So far, the federal payroll has
been rid of about 40,000 ghost workers. More
than eight billion Naira stolen monthly has
been saved.
We are also saving on wasteful expenses like
First Class Travel and Private jets for official
trips.
The federal government is not limiting the
reforms to the centre but forcing State
Governments to reform their spending and
build savings or investments.
Government is also increasing spending on
capital projects especially on infrastructure
needed to make Nigerian businesses
competitive and create jobs. The
administration is at the same time blocking
leakages that allowed government revenues to
be siphoned into private hands.
Currently, there is focus on key sectors (apart
from oil) that can create jobs and or generate
revenue such as Agriculture, Solid Minerals
and Manufacturing. If these things had been
done when the oil price was as high as US
$140 per barrel, Nigeria would not be in the
current predicament. We would not be
suffering now if we had no cash reserves but
we had regular supply of power, a good rail
system, good roads and good housing.
Now that the oil has fallen as low as US$28
per barrel, it is very difficult to do what is
needed but they must be done to save
Nigeria. There is no other way if we want to
be honest.