Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state has described President Muhammadu Buhari’s comment that he was pleased with Nigeria’s economic situation as ”strange”.
The President, after meeting with some top government officials including the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, and CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, expressed satisfaction with the country’s economy.
Fayose in a statement said the president’s comment is a ”pointer to the fact that the President has lost touch with the economic realities in the country”.
The statement read in part: ”It is strange that a President will say that he is pleased with sufferings being experienced by his people.
”How can a President who has spent more time abroad than he spent in Nigeria be telling Nigerians that he is satisfied with the sufferings of the people? It is like the President endorsing the sufferings of Nigerians and this is painful.
”That President Buhari, who met exchange rate at N197 to $1 said that he is pleased with the economy when exchange rate is now N370 to $1 is a clear indication that the government is being ran on his behalf.
”The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its unemployment report for the fourth quarter (Q4) 2016 said 3.67 million Nigerians became jobless in one year and that the number of unemployed Nigerians rose from 7.51 million at the beginning of October 2015 to 11.19 million at the end of September 2016.
”As at May 29, 2015 that Buhari became President, bag of rice was less than N8,000, a bag of rice is about N18,000 now, more than 25 states cannot pay workers salary regularly owing to dwindled revenue from the federation account, and someone is telling Nigerians that the economy is doing well? It is clear that the President has lost touch with real economic situation of the country.
”Even a two year old child knows that there is hunger in the land, Nigerians are hungry, they are suffering and telling them that all is well is like adding salt to their injury.”
