In a nutshell, three policy blunders destroyed the economy of the nation. And PMB was DIRECTLY responsible for all the three blunders. And, nope, the drop in oil price was not part of it.

1. Failing to unite the country; and provoking the Niger Delta uneccessarily

PMB, without any due consultations, terminated the survilence contract that had been handled by ND youths for years now. (By the way I heard that he had reawarded the contract to a notherner). As if that was not enough he cut down the budget for the armnesty programe and threatened to terminate the program altogether.

Of course this was after dividing the country into 97% and 5%. Mind you, sane people from around the world (and even here on NL) warned the govenment about its economic suscide mission. But they were too sturbborn and arrogant to listen to the voice of wisdom.

In fact they actually bombed ND with impunity, forgeting that there can never be prosperity where there is no peace. By the time the ND youths were done avenging whatever, the oil production had been virtually grounded. The country's major source of forex had just crumbled. And that was for several months.


2. Instigating massive capital flight and demolishing investors' confidence

Trump had 90% of his team up prior to his inaugration. But PMB took nearly six monrhs (AFTER his inaugration) to setup what can be termed Nigeria's worst cabinet since 1999. He even called them "noise makers" before their assembly. This delay in setting up the country's executive team made foreig direct investors to start looking elsewhere.

And by the time the presidency started demonizing and threathening everyone, the foreign investors started flying away in droves.Now add this to the fact that up till now this government does not have a seasoned economic team nor direction. This shows why official inflation rate got shoot up by more than 100% in a little over 1 year. (You certainly do not want to hear the unofficial rate).

3. Erratic approach to foreign exchange terms and other related policies.

First the govt. woke up one morning and decided that folks could no longer withdraw or deposite forex over the counter, thereby creating massive panic, confusion and more erossion of investor confidence. In fact many companies were blocked from accessing their funds in forex. But the govt. suddenly reversed this policy after creating nedless confusion. Talk of trial and error.

Later the case of needful devaluation (or free floating) of the Naira came up. But the presidency vowed that it would never happen thereby sending the remaining investors away.

Of course the govt. later shifted their position (after doing the damage) and claimed that they had adopted a free float system. But guess what? It's all a lie. Naira is still being pegged, though no longer at N199. However the investors are not fooled. So they are still not here.

Plus, when the import dependent economy could no longer be fueled with the scarce forex, the cost of production soared and so did the inflation, thereby crippling the production and GDP generally. Yet, all the while, interest rates remained high and wages were either slashed or owed.

And, mind you, while most manufacturers and importers could not access forex at reasonable rates and were therefore closing down their shops, some religious and connected folks were getting the stuff from the govt. at some obscene and insanely subsidized rates.

That's how we got here in a nutshell.

In conclusion...

Of course there is no way the previous govetnment (of seasoned technocrats) could have made any of the above three mistakes. And mind you those three mistakes are not actually distinct from each other. One simply led to the other until they translated to the vicious circle they are now. Unfortunately folks like you keep taking the night for the day.

Diamby:
People who criticize the present administration for the economic recession we are should tell us what the ousted government of GEJ would have done differently to halt the recession. We all know that i was the sharp drop in oil prices and lack of savings that threw us into this recession.Does jonathan have the powers to regulate international oil price? Nigeria is largely dependent on its earnings from crude oil for survival as such the oil prices affected our dollar earnings thereby causing the devaluation of the naira.I also ask what has previous administration done about diversifying the economy,building new refineries or revamping the old ones.power sector reforms as i know was a mess as most of the power infrastructure were handed over to those who have no capacity to manage them hence the eratic power supply we have now. The present govt might have its own issues about sound economic policies but i must say no foundation was built for the present government to build on so its like nigerian is just been nutured from the begining. Guys feel free to critise and add your own comments on how we found ourselves where we are today.Nigeria problem is structural.

slimmdree:
Alot of you need to be enlightened

Jaymaxxy:
Jonathan drove us into recession while Buhari is doing nothing visible to take us out. Both are guilty.