Buhari was the right candidate to beat PDP — TINUBU

NATIONAL Leader of All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, yesterday, outlined steps that can urgently take Nigeria out of recession, if taken and that Buhari was the right candidate to beat Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Tinubu, who for the first time spoke on the inside strategy that catapulted the APC to power, gave reasons he backed President Muhammadu Buhari for the 2015 presidential election, adding that in a short-while Buhari had done what the ousted Peoples Democratic Party, PDP could not do in the war against the Boko Haram insurgency.

Tinubu made the disclosures while addressing participants of Course 25 of the National Defence College, NDC. He commended the military for its exploits against the Boko Haram insurgents and warned that Nigeria must be on her guard. ‘’I commend the Nigerian military for what it has achieved against Boko Haram. You have battled and defeated this evil enterprise. This vile force has been reduced to where it no longer poses a strategic threat. You have done as well as a military can in putting down this amorphous danger. The nation thanks you. I must say here, however, that we cannot lower our guard. ‘’We have learned cardinal lessons from the Boko Haram crisis. First, we must govern justly and for the benefit of the people to prevent the recurrence of violent extremism in the future,’’ he said. Unjust allocation of resources To wriggle out of recession, Tinubu said we must ensure just allocation of resources and shift primary focus to the economic front. His words: ‘’The decline of high oil prices threatens to be a long-term phenomenon. 

It placed the nation in recession last year and revealed the structural weaknesses of our national economy. ‘’Strategic objectives during this period of economic uncertainty must be to re-engineer the economy bottom up, diversify the economic base, strengthen our industrial base, modernize infrastructure, enhance agriculture, and provide employment. And of course, ease of doing business must not be overlooked in order to attract foreign investment. ‘’The lower oil prices also reduced hard currency earnings. This undermined the naira, causing a steep rise in the cost of imports. The higher prices have suppressed aggregate demand, causing a decline in business activity. ‘’The challenge before us is a difficult but not impossible one. If we stick to the progressive beliefs of the APC, we shall overcome these difficulties to place the economy on surer permanent footing. ‘’Government has shown its commitment to these ideals via its budget for this year and by the strong help it is giving state governments to meet their budgetary requirements. The unprecedented stipend programme for the poorest highlights the government’s concern for those who have been left unattended by the dynamics of the marketplace. Economic restructuring ‘’Achieving the desired economic restructuring will require a change in economic mindset and strategy. We must avoid the nostrums of mainstream orthodoxy that say government deficits are always bad. In the situation we face, deficit spending is essential to bolster aggregate demand and direct funds to projects that build infrastructure and bolster employment. ‘’We must better harmonize monetary policy with fiscal policy. It undercuts our goals if monetary policy is unduly tight at a time fiscal policy begets deficit spending. ‘’We must also realign trade policy with our need to create a meaningful industrial base and more potent agricultural sector.

source: vanguard newspaper