He said, “I will say the governor is probably displaying his
ignorance of macro and micro-economies. When you talk about mortgaging the
country or selling oil upfront for the future, I think he needs to go and learn
how oil is marketed at the Rotterdam market. There are countries that produce
oil, sell for upward of 10 years and payments made upfront. It is normal in the
oil business. It didn’t start with Buhari even such a thing happened during his
administration.
“For his (Mutfwang) information, Buhari is very versed and
experienced when it comes to oil marketing and economy having been minister of
petroleum during the military regime. He has also been one head of state that
built two refineries during his time. So he is very conversant with the
economics of oil and anyone who knows Buhari will tell you he won’t do anything
that will shortchange the country or put the future of Nigeria in jeopardy.
“On the issue of money printed, I believe that is being
investigated by the National Assembly and I don’t want us to start pre-empting
the outcome. The governor is just playing to the gallery. It is not something
new but a normal statement expected from the mouth of the opposition. But in
playing opposition, I always like people to play constructive and not
destructive criticism.”
The leadership of the Labour Party did not however share the
sentiment of the ruling APC.
Speaking with our reporter, the National Legal Adviser of
LP, Kehinde Edun, expressed his disappointment over the manner successive
APC-led governments keep blaming their predecessor.
Edun stated that it was obvious that embarking on a blame
game could not resolve the perennial economic problems plaguing the country.
The legal practitioner also argued that it was not a panacea
to the hunger and anger Nigerians are nursing against the federal government.
“When are we going to stop this blame game? Buhari spent
eight years blaming (Goodluck) Jonathan for the woes of the country. Is Tinubu
also planning to spend the four years of his administration blaming Buhari? The
important thing is to do the best you can since you decided to take up the
challenge. This blame game will not help matters. They keep saying I inherited
a bad economy. All the governors have also joined the trend of saying they
inherited a debt profile of certain amounts. Enough of these excuses!
“If you are doing what you are supposed to do, Nigerians
will know. Our people are becoming more enlightened now. This current
government is still struggling with waste and extravagant spending. In spite of
the difficulties and hardship Nigerians are facing, they are not doing their
best,” he stated.
