The national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adam Oshiomhole, in his speech at the Maiden Presidential Policy Roundtable Retreat held at the Aso Rock in Abuja on Wednesday, admitted that the poverty level is still high in Nigeria despite the economic growth.
His admittance was however not in line with President Buhari’s claim of taking Nigeria out of economic recession.
“Through various monetary and fiscal measures, we restored economic growth, curbed inflation and shored up our external reserves,” Mr Buhari said in his welcome address.
“We have witnessed eight quarters of consistent marginal growth of the economy over the past two and a half years.”
The former Edo State Governor stated that though the implementation of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) helped the country out of recession “within a short space”, however the rate of economic growth is still far less than the rate of population growth.
“Unfortunately, if our economic growth rate is still lower than the rate of population growth, poverty would remain endemic” Premium Times reported he said.
Oshiomhole also pointed out the challenges in inequality and access to credit and mortgage.
“We don’t just want to grow the economy and create more wealth; we are also interested in who is benefiting from this wealth and what policy instruments are required to ensure that inequality is addressed and that the average Nigerian people particularly the mass that constitutes the electorate benefit from the fruit of growth.
“This will require a review of access to credit and access to mortgage, unemployment, low level of manufacturing and the need for diversification of the economy.
“In addition, there is the need to increase our revenue, block leakages and ensure that our budget delivers services to the citizens.”
“Our campaign issue has always centered on three key issues which in some ways summarised the Nigerian condition. Four years later, in line with our constitution, we went back to the people and we renewed the campaign and reminded Nigerians that the key issues haven’t really changed.
“They remain relevant now as they were in 2015 in spite of the huge progress that have been made on all the three issues namely: economy, security and anti-corruption.”
