Buhari Is Not Responsible For Economic Crisis – Abdulmumin Jibrin

Former Chairman of the House of Representatives Appropriation Committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin has said that President Muhammadu Buhari is not to blame for the economic crisis in the country.

The lawmaker made the comment in reaction to Senator Dino Melaye saying that Buhari’s economic team should be sacked over the crisis.

Jibrin’s comments are contained in a statement posted on his Facebook wall. It reads:

I’m compelled to say a few words on the attempt by some people to apportion blame on President Muhammadu Buhari on the state of the economy and also share my view on the call by Senator Dino Melaye on the President to sack some ministers and Central Bank Governor as the solution to the problem.

As a former Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, and until recently Appropriation, I am in a good position to contribute and proffer solutions to the problem.

Let me state very categorically that the President is not to blame on the state of our economy today. It is unfair and very wicked to push such blame on a man who just came on board barely a year ago. Not even a magician can turn around the economy within a period of one year.

The biggest spending in our economy, that is the budget, hasn’t even run a full course of one year. Yet, some people want to crucify President Buhari. Haba! Let’s face reality!

We all know how badly oil price has gone, a situation that adversely affected our foreign reserves and mounted pressure on the naira. No matter what approach we adopt to manage and deal with the situation, recovery will be slow. It is not President Buhari’s fault.

Everyone seems to forget when the whole country was supporting more spending as against saving. But here we are today, soaked in the rainy day. President Buhari should not be used as anybody’s scape goat!

The recurrent expenditure, which has escalated and constituted a huge burden on our yearly budget rose from N950.32billion in 2006 to N1.372.20 trillion in 2008 and N2.593.62 trillion in 2015. This was not created by President Buhari.

Similarly, the total cash call (oil production cost) which rose from about N200 billion in 2006 to about N1.2 trillion in 2015 was not a creation of President Buhari.

The cash call has remained another tale of burden on our yearly budget. Statutory transfers including that of the NASS are not left behind. Statutory transfers rose from just about N100 billion in 2006 to N375.62 billion in 2015. President Buhari was not the President then.

Debt servicing also rose from about N300 billion in 2006 to N953.62 billion in 2015. These expenditures have over the years constrained the budget and made it difficult to channel sufficient funds towards productive sectors that can sufficiently grow the economy. Domestic borrowing also skyrocketed during this period and created devastating consequences on the economy.

Government at that time continued to mop up money from commercial banks at a rate considered one of the highest in the world, while the real sector is left with nothing. And even when they were able to access funds, it came with an unbearable interest rate. President Buhari met this situation on ground. He did not create it, but is doing his very best to take us out of the economic quagmire. We should all support him.