Atiku Engineered Nigeria’s Economic Productivity Under Obasanjo; He Will Revamp Economy- PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says Nigeria needs its Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to revamp its moribund economy.

This was stated by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, at an interactive session with the media on Saturday in Abuja.

Ologunagba said Nigeria needed Abubakar because of his practical experience, capacity, broad-mindedness and will power to unite the nation, revamp the national economy, and guarantee security of lives and property in the country.

He said that from the party consultations across the six geo-political zones of the country, it was clear that Nigerians across board, irrespective of religion, ethnicity and even political affiliations, accepted Abubakar as the best candidate.

“Abubakar as Vice President to President Olusegun Obasanjo was the Chairman of the National Economic Council.

“During that period, our nation achieved unprecedented national productivity, we also secured $30 billion overall debt relief from the Paris and London Clubs

“Nigeria’s economy was revamped to become one of the fastest growing economies in the world with stable exchange rate.

“Our foreign reserves rose from $2bn in 1999 to $43bn in 2007, while power generation also rose from average daily generation capacity of 1,800mw in 1999 to 4,000 mw in 2007.”

Ologunagba added that under Abubakar as chairman of the economic council, Nigeria witnessed the liberalisation of the telecommunication industry and the advent of GSM and Internet facilities in Nigeria.

He added that the country also witnessed a boost in private Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Nigeria.

“More Nigerians opened investments in sectors hitherto controlled by foreigners, including in the downstream and upstream petroleum sectors.

“Owing to the conducive economic environment, there was increase in Foreign Direct Investment and more Nigerians in the Diaspora returned to establish businesses in the country

“There was also expanded and consolidated Nigerian banking industry to make it operate and participate effectively in global banking businesses”, he added.