The Fresh Democratic Party, FRESH, has expressed support for the two-day National Economic Conference which held in Abuja this week.
According to the party chairman, Rev. Chris Okotie, the conference is an opportunity for the APC federal government to engage all stakeholders across the party spectrum on the economic direction of the government.
Rev. Okotie observed that the economic focus of President Muhammadu Buhari’s 10- month administration has been a subject of much controversy because of the government’s relentless war against corruption, and its anti-terror military campaign which appear to have over-shadowed the other activities of the administration.
“This important parley will enable the APC government to fully articulate its economic objectives, so that all stakeholders would know where to key in,” Rev. Okotie said during a meeting of the party’s caucus in Lagos over the weekend.
“The position of our party on the economy has not changed since weclaunched our manifesto in 2007. There’s need for a shift in the governance paradigm, which, when contextualized within the prevailing circumstances, is the creation of a new national economic order that focuses on the development of our abundant human capital as a developmental priority, so that the indigenous manpower so developed would now cultivate our extractive assets for the benefit of all”.
Rev. Okotie said, the over-concentration on oil revenue is the root cause of the present unprecedented looting of the national treasury, as it has bred a lazy and corrupt political class, who angle for power because of the opportunity to steal and vandalize our national assets.
“Our party, therefore, advises that the economic summit seriously deliberates on what we consider to be the three key battle grounds – Agriculture, Power and Human Capital Development. Nigeria needs quality manpower to develop its economy, so, we must modernize our educational sector and its moribund curriculum, by investing in infrastructure, training, research and development.
“Every sector of the economy needs quality manpower to develop programme initiatives that could drive the economy towards self-sufficiency, rather than import dependency. No nation survives if it cannot feed itself, so our agriculture, more than any sector; apart from power generation, requires holistic new and revolutionary policies that would ensure food security on the short-term, and turn Nigeria into a major food exporter on the long-term, like it used to be in 1960s.
On the controversy over the skyrocketing dollar exchange rate, the FRESH chairman said that the dollar is not Nigeria’s national currency, but explained that while the CBN should defend the integrity of the naira, only a strong, productive national economy can sustain a strong currency.
This deficit which makes us engage from a point of disadvantage has put our economy at the mercy of global politics and disruptive market forces.
“Our position is that the forex system is corruption soaked with insider dealings and round-trippings, as the on-going revelation of the EFCC has shown. We expect that, the money and capital markets must come under rigorous scrutiny to rid the financial system of debilitating corruption.
Finally, Rev. Okotie warned stakeholders against canvassing for the adoption of foreign economic models that are alien to Nigeria, saying we have seen how the presidential system which we copied from the USA has been so corrupted that operating its executive and legislative branches alone is costing tax payers over half of the national budget.
“China, Singapore and other South East Asian countries designed economic and political models that best suit their peculiar circumstances. Nigeria should look inwards as President Buhari had posited and I believe, we’d get it right,” he concluded adding that FRESH would henceforth make policy interventions to offer viable alternative ideas to government policy makers.