Former
Presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, has recounted the economic achievements
of ex-President, Goodluck Jonathan in order to debunk the claims of the federal
government indicting his former principal as being responsible for the current
recession rocking the nation.
He said
there was danger in peddling a single side of the story of how Nigeria’s
recession started as championed by President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet;
stressing that repeating a lie will make people start to assume it is true.
Abati stated
this in Lagos while chatting with the media on the state of the economy.
He said that
Jonathan’s administration rebased the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the nation
and made Nigeria the largest economy in Africa.
He also said
that in six months, the immediate past federal government attracted about N1.15
trillion in foreign direct investment (FDI) to the nation; hosted the
first-ever World Economic Forum to be held in Africa as an endorsement of the
work done on Nigeria’s economy; and revived the automotive industry and
national railway; as well as grew agricultural sector to a robust stature.
The
ex-spokesman further urged Nigerians to always double-check information peddled
by the Buhari administration.
Abati said:
“There is something about the danger of a single story. If you look at the
Jonathan government, at the risk of defending that administration, under that
administration the GDP was the rebased and Nigeria became the largest economy
in Africa.
“As at 2014,
Nigeria had become the number one Foreign Direct Investment destination in
Africa. Within the first half of 2014, this economy has gained from FDI alone
about N1.15 trillion. In fact, that same year, for the first time in Africa,
the World Economic Forum held in Nigeria; which was a kind of endorsement of
what was been done by that administration at that time.
“It was also
under that administration that the auto motive industry was revived. It was
under that administration that the national railway was revived. It was under
that administration that the agricultural sector became very robust.
“I am not
here to come and offer a defense but the danger of the single story is that it
ends up repeating a lie until you assume that people will believe it. I think
that people should double check some of these things.”
Source: Daily
Post
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