Senator Ehigie Uzamere a two-term senator who represented Edo South Senatorial District between 2007- 2015, has in a recent interview with Daily Independence said ex-Finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has beforehand, warned of impending recession in the country but no one heeded.
Below is an except of his response:
Four years ago, the then Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as then chairman of foreign and local debts, had told us that in three years time, Nigeria is going to run into serious recession. That is what we are going through. That Sovereign Wealth Fund would have been a bailout for this country. But we didn’t listen.
The governors who control the government in their various states; the governors who nominate the speaker of the House of Representatives; the governors who nominate a local government chairman and also ministers, were able to impress on Jonathan not to accept the Sovereign Wealth Fund.
That is where we went wrong. We are going to undergo a process, this recession is part of it. What APC is now is like a nine months pregnant woman who in the process of giving birth will go through pain. That is what we are going through today. After the birth of the baby it needs time to be nurtured; to crawl and to walk.
What is happening in Nigeria now predates the coming into office of President Buhari and even former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
This recession has to do with problems that have been there for several years. We live a life that is beyond us in Nigeria. We live flamboyantly. I have been to other African countries where you see people living within their means.
The economy today has gone bad. So, we just have to let the key things to be put in place. But I believe that in another six months, we will be seeing the difference.
