Ambassador Anthony Nwangwu

By Francis Sadhere

The Convener of the Concerned Citizens of Nigeria, Ambassador Anthony Nwangwu has said that President Muhammadu Buhari lacks viable economic programmes that can move Nigeria forward, just as he noted that the past administration under former President Gooddluck Jonathan would have done better with his one thousand economic programmes if he had won the last election.

Nwangwu who spoke to The REFORMER in Warri yesterday said most of to the economic programmes being implemented by the present administration were programmes put in place by former President Jonathan.

According to the Nwangwu who is also a chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Buhari cannot lift the country out of its present economic quagmire because it does not have programmes that can provide and create jobs for the teeming unemployed youths in the country.

Nwangwu stressed that the You-win programme, the Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) and other programmes that the present administration is talking about today were the economic programmes put in place by the former President Jonathan.

“Why did I say that Jonathan has better economic programmes than Buhari? As the convener of Concerned Citizens of Nigerian, we went into the details of the policies and programmes that Jonathan put in place to actually drive the economy of Nigeria. We discovered that the man has so many programmes. In any economy where you do not empower the sole proprietors and the youths, and you do not encourage an atmosphere that is business friendly and make those who invested their money to gain profit, then that economy will eventually collapse.

“Now let me give you details. It is said that the workforce of any economy is the youths. The human resource comprises the youths because they are the ones that actually have the capacity to work. Now if eventually we do not have existing businesses that you have made policies and laws that will be so friendly for them to strive, the youths will not be gainfully employed and that will bring a negative effect on the economy.

“Now let me give you details. It is said that the workforce of any economy is the youths. The human resource comprises the youths because they are the ones that actually have the capacity to work. Now if eventually we do not have existing businesses that you have made policies and laws that will be so friendly for them to strive, the youths will not be gainfully employed and that will bring a negative effect on the economy.

“Two, there are young people who want to establish their own businesses and do not have funds to start with because the government does not have policies in place to take care of them. As a result a large percentage of the workforce will be out of work. Now if a certain percentage of our workforce is not working then there will be problem in the economy and there will be disequilibrium. The problem Nigeria has is disequilibrium.

“We are talking about the economy of the country which is the about everything. Every country that has a good economy will have a level of stability. You cannot do anything without a good economy because a man that is well fed will not have time to foment trouble.”

Nwangwu, who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) LightWorld and Industries, noted that without  clear cut economic programme put in place by the present administration, Nigeria would continue be faced with difficult economic problems.

“My concern with project Nigeria is to ensure that Nigeria becomes viable and compete with other committee of nation. I have always argued that the previous government would have continued with the economic programmes, projects and policies it had put in place if has won the election. I was arguing based on the economic policies and programmes put in place by former President Goodluck Jonathan to drive the economy of Nigeria.

“My primary concern is to ensure that Nigeria becomes viable and compete with other committee of nation. I have always argued that the previous government would have continued with the economic programmes, projects and policies it had put in place if has won the election. I was arguing based on the economic policies and programmes put in place by former President Goodluck Jonathan to drive the economy of Nigeria.

“My primary concern is to ensure that Nigeria becomes a very viable country. That is my principle, but elections have come and gone and some have won while others have lost. Now we are looking at Nigeria of today. They are shouting change and my concept of change is changing from the worst to the better. But as it stands now, I do not think Nigeria has changed from the worst to better

“But as it stands now, I do not think Nigeria has changed from the worst to better. I think Nigeria has nose-dived looking at all the economic indices. Nigeria has not actually progressed since 2016 till now.

He took a swipe at the present administration of President Buhari who he said has continued to blame the fall in oil prices for the present economic woes the country is facing, calling on the President to stop putting the blame of his failure on oil.

Nwangwu specifically said Nigeria is blessed with a lot of human and natural resource that can catapult the nation forward even without crude oil, adding that the country is in its present state because the government has failed to put viable economic programmes to move the economy.

“I think Nigeria has nose-dived looking at all the economic indices. Nigeria has not actually progressed since 2016 till now. There are other schools of thoughts who believed that the fall in oil prices was the reason why the country’s economy has nose-dived. But I bet to defer from that school of thought because there are other countries that do not depend on oil as the economic mainstay and today they are doing well. So that is just a lazy man’s talk.

“If he had told us that he wants to change from what had being to what is better, he should not be talking about the status quo because the status quo is our dependent on oil. He came and was preaching change and we expect change and this argument. So I expected him to talk serious. He should not tell us that because oil price has nosed-dived that is why the economy has nosed-dived.

“So looking into our economy, there is no equilibrium because there are no programmes for the youths to drive them. As I am talking with you right now there are no viable economic programmes to drive the economy.”