Ex-VP pledges to fix economy
Former Vice President and All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirant, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, yesterday ap­praised the economy and gave a damn­ing verdict: “Nigeria is on auto-pilot with no one in charge.”
The APC chieftain in his declaration speech titled: “Time for change,” presented before his party faithful ahead of APC’s presidential convention fixed for December, noted that Nigerians have been dehumanised occasioned by serious governance deficit.”
Criticising all the sectors under the Jonathan administration, Atiku said most of the economic reforms initiated by former President Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007 had been reversed while institutions that should lay the foundation for good governance and accountability “are now mere shadows of themselves.
“We know the story today. Rather than continuing to reduce our debts, our borrowing has actually been increasing even though the price of oil has consistently been above $100 per barrel since the inception of the current administration.
“The percentage of our budget that is implemented has diminished significantly since capital projects are poorly cash-backed. A number of major manufacturers have divested from Nigeria and relocated to neighbouring countries while those that remain, operate at far below their installed capacity due mainly to poor infrastructure.
“The environment for doing business, and our ranking in world competitiveness index have worsened. Therefore, job opportunities for our teeming youth have become harder to come by.
“We recall with sadness the avoidable deaths of job seekers during the poorly organized so-called Immigration Service recruitment exam just last year.  Up to this moment, no one had been held accountable for those needless deaths.
“On human development, our infant and maternal mortality, and poverty and illiteracy levels continue to be embarrassingly high. “Thus, while countries such as Ghana, Gabon and Botswana are classified by the UNDP as being at the Medium Human Development Level, Nigeria is grouped with those at the Low Human Development Level. This situation reinforces the urgent need for change.  We cannot continue down this path of national decline.
“Government has a responsibility to do everything possible to halt the on-going dehumanization of Nigerians. “Unfortunately, what we have is a serious governance deficit. To put it bluntly, our country seems to be on auto-pilot with no one in charge,” he said.
Atiku assured Nigerians that under the APC-led Federal Government, governance deficit would be redressed. “We need a strong, dynamic, decisive, competent and visionary leadership that can halt the current drift of the ship of state, fight corruption, create jobs, rebuild our infrastructure, provide social services and tackle insecurity in a decisive, robust multi-pronged way.  This is the change we want and deserve and this is the change the APC is primed to offer. And that is why I am a proud member of this platform for change.”

Nigeria on auto-pilot – Atiku