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In 1999 when we returned to civil rule, the economy was in dire straits with extremely high unemployment and poverty rates, high national debt of $35 billion, external reserves of a paltry $3 billion, GDP growth rate at 0.58% and crude oil prices at less than $17 dollars a barrel.
With Atiku firmly in charge of the economy, the administration set to work and within just three years Nigeria achieved an economic growth rate of 16% which remains the highest economic growth rate in the country’s history and made Nigeria the fastest growing economy in Africa and second fastest growing in the world at the time.
The administration went on to build our foreign reserves to the highest levels in the country’s history and by 2005 they were able to liquidate our external debts of $30 billion in a negotiated settlement while securing record breaking discounts for the country on the loan repayment.
The administration also introduced several reforms such as bank consolidation, pension reforms, local content policy in the oil industry, privatization, cement industry policy, liberalization of the telecoms industry and numerous other reforms that added up to create millions of jobs for Nigerians while moving millions out of poverty in the process.
Today the economy is back on it’s knees the way it was in 1999 and we need our most experienced and competent hands to pilot the country out of the mess APC has plunged us into in the past ten years.
Only Atiku Abubakar out of all the presidential hopefuls has the relevant experience, knowledge and passion to get our economy working again. We cannot afford to gamble with those who want to learn on the job or those who just want to be president out of a sense of entitlement.
For our collective good and the sake of our children, let us follow the man who knows the way.
Oyekunle Oshobi.
SB E-news.
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