7th January, 2022
Senator Shehu Sani has taunted President Muhammadu Buhari over the latter’s response during an interview aired on Channels TV.
One of the interviewees, Seun Okinbaloye in the interview broadcast on Wednesday, had compared some of the key economic indicators between 2015 and 2021, explaining how the figures have kept Nigerians worried about the poor state of the economy.
President Buhari had given a rather odd response to a question asked by the interviewee.
“When you took over in 2015, our debt stock at the time was about 12 trillion, now it’s about 32 trillion,” Okinbaloye said.
“Inflation rate was about 9%, it’s now sitting at about 15%; unemployment rate was about 9.2%, it’s now at about 32.2%; exchange (rate) was about N197 to a dollar, now it’s way over 400 naira to a dollar.
“Now people would look back and say before you took over some of these indicators were fair, and now the figures are not friendly at all.”
In his response, Buhari disputed the data reeled out by the journalist, but he failed to engage them, restating his oft-repeated claim that Nigerians must return to the farm in order to fix the economy.
“Well, I am not sure how correct your calculations are,” the president said, “but all I know is that we have to allow people have access to the farm. We just have to go back to the land.”
Reacting to the president’s response, Sani, who owns a farm, highlighted the difficulty of going to the farm and returning safely without being abducted.
“The problem is not going to the farm but coming back from the Farm,” the former Kaduna lawmaker wrote.