The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) says President Muhammadu Buhari has outperformed former President Olusegun Obasanjo in diversifying the nation’s economy.
In a statement signed by its chairman, Niyi Akinsiju and secretary Cassidy Madueke, BMO said that the former president needs to be reminded that he did not build a resilient economy when he had the opportunity to do so.
The statement reads in part: “Now, he claims Buhari ‘does not understand the economy’ and we wonder how someone who could not use the oil boom that Nigeria enjoyed under his administration to build a more structured economy than what we had throughout the PDP years. This is so hypocritical.
“This is the same man who presided over an 8 per cent decline in economic growth from 15 per cent in 2002 to 7.35 per cent in 2003 and 6.59 per cent by the time he handed over in 2007.
“Conversely, it was President Buhari who stemmed the tide of four consecutive PDP-era GDP contractions between Q2 2014 and Q2 2015, and set the country on the path of growth with a more resilient and diversified economy from Q3 2015.
“We dare to say that many analysts, with proper knowledge of economics, have continued to express surprise that the Nigerian economy recorded a 7th consecutive quarter of GDP growth since the recession in Q3 of 2020 at a period of a sustained global slump.
“But for us, it is a reflection of the policies put in place by the Buhari administration, even before COVID-19 struck, that were targeted at weaning the country off its overdependence on crude oil, something former President Obasanjo failed to do.”
