The Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Communications, Solomon Adeola has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to take urgent steps to address the economic recession the country is currently facing.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker representing Lagos West Senatorial District, expressed concern that governments at all levels
are not tackling the economic woes with the urgency it requires.
While acknowledging that the recession at this time is not peculiar to Nigeria, Adeola said the difference is that not much is being done to assure the people that government is on top of the situation in terms of marshaling out implementable policies to address the plight of groups that are hardest hit by the recession.
“I must say that one is yet to see any urgency in providing palliatives for the poor and collapsing industries and other corporate bodies leading to serious job losses and a growing sense of despair among the general population. Experience in the past shows that one of the most reliable ways to tackle recession is to spend money on productive sector as well as welfarist spending to put money in the pockets of the poor” the senator stated in a release signed by his media adviser, Kayode
Odunaro, on Tuesday.
Adeola’s concern brings to three the number of APC senators that have so far expressed dissatisfaction with the President’s handling of the crisis, the others being Dino Melaye and Shehu Sani.
The senator regretted that the Economic Team of the Federal Government has failed in their approach in handling the economic crisis.
According to him, the Team out to be dishing out policy options and direction in form of palliative for the poor, bail out/loans for distressed organizations like Innosson Motors and airlines in dire straits.
He particularly singled out Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun; her counterpart in Budget and National Planning Udoma Udoma; CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele and Director General of Budget Office, Ben Akabueze, over their failure to initiate policies needed to revive the ailing Nigerian economy.
“As we confront the unpalatable recession one is worried to see unelected ministers of government go about in convoys of SUVs with a horde of assistants and security aides as if the recession is just a word that has no effect on their lives and ways of doing things while we elected representatives are daily confronted by helpless constituents who look up to us for solutions to their economic challenges. This period calls for austere lifestyles and cutting of recurrent expenditure of government at all levels to free funds for interventionist palliatives for the people and organizations that provide jobs for the people as well as diversification of the revenue base of the government.” he further
stated.
Adeola lamented that the sharp increase in the number of poor Nigerians at about 100 million by the World Bank and other international development agencies is alarming.
