Buhari cannot take Nigeria out of recession – Ex-PPPRA boss, Rasheed Gbadamosi

Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi, a former chairman, Petroleum Products Prices Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, says he was not surprised when the federal government declared that the country was in recession.

“I was not surprised. It had to happen but it was a question of when it would happen. It was meant to have come a long time ago,” he told Punch.

“I was not surprised because before Buhari’s regime, we had anticipated that the recession would come. It was something that was anticipated but what did we do?

“There was a feeling that somehow it would not happen and we would be able to weather the storm but that was not the case. Poor mother Africa was hopeful that the cross would pass over us but it did not seem to be so.

“There was a feeling that Olusegun Obasanjo could have averted such a situation if it happened during his time.”

Asked if he has confidence that President Muhammadu Buhari could take Nigeria out of recession, he responded “When we talk about the awful turning point in the economy, I don’t think Buhari can do anything about it, to be frank.”

Gbadamosi, a former Minister of National Planning, stressed that the current recession was a bomb waiting to explode.

“Nigeria was not prepared It is not just a question of Nigeria saving, we were not totally prepared. I think we threw caution to the wind.

“Look at what happened to some other nations of the world, they had been through this but they weathered the storm. I think Nigerians thought the world owed us a meal, they believed the world owed us a living”, he added.

Meanwhile, a group, Centre for Social Justice, Equity and Transparency, CESJET, has accused governors of abandoning their mandate for matters that had no bearing on what they were elected to do, stressing that the trend had resulted in the failing of governance, and worsened the economy.