February , 2015 – The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has dismissed the APC’s claims on the state of the nation’s economy as wild and baseless allegations shamelessly anchored on tissues of lies and unreliable posts copied from the social media.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh in a statement on Monday said it is disgusting that the APC has stuck to its stock-in-trade of fabricating and dishing out falsehood in an attempt to deceive Nigerians and distort facts on the glaring achievements in the nation’s economy under President Goodluck Jonathan in spite of the daunting challenges.
The PDP which said it has continued to maintain a high moral ground in keeping to issue-based campaign, described the APC statement as a ploy to divert attention from its lack of acceptable economic blue-print and the refusal of its Presidential candidate, retired Major General Muhammadu Buhari to intellectually engage President Jonathan on economic and other matters.
“No body can deny the fact that we have made improvements in our economy in the last four years under President Goodluck Jonathan. The APC cannot detract from the fact that under President Jonathan, our economy has grown to become the largest in Africa and the third fastest growing in the world.
“This feat, which did not come by accident but through meticulous application of policies by President Jonathan has been attested to by renowned economic experts and leading international rating agencies”, the party said.
Noting that the nation has become the primary investment destination in Africa under the Jonathan administration, the PDP said this is visible in the unprecedented growth of the private sector and influx of foreign direct investments in manufacturing, agriculture, retail, construction, hospitality, oil and gas, communication among others, with massive employment opportunities for millions of Nigerians.
It said the influx of international retail giants and the rebirth of shopping malls in all major cities of the country attest to the nation’s encouraging demographics and stronger purchasing power of the citizens.
The party said the business-friendly environment created by the Jonathan administration has also led to the revival of the manufacturing sector with leading car manufacturers such as Nissan, Hyundai and Kia setting up factories in addition to indigenous Innosons, Peugeot Nigeria and ANAMCO, providing business and employment for Nigerians.
The PDP therefore challenged the APC to come out with its policy direction for wealth creation instead of engaging in unfounded claims adding that it should also be bold to present its presidential candidate to face President Jonathan in a debate on the economy.
