According to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in 2015, its administration handed over more than $550 billion in economic resources —which translates to Nigeria being the largest economy in Africa at the time— to the All Progressive Congress, which is currently in power.
In a statement released on Thursday to mark its 25th anniversary on its official X, the PDP accused the APC-led government of recklessly accruing N85 trillion in foreign debt in just eight years, effectively mortgaging Nigeria’s future.
The PDP expressed pride in its accomplishment, saying, “Today, the PDP celebrates the resilience of Nigerians in the democratic process and particularly the founding leaders and teeming members of our Party for their sacrificial roles in returning, nurturing and sustaining democracy in our country.
“It is on record that the PDP administration, through deft management of the economy, achieved $18bn debt relief from the Paris and London Clubs, consolidated the banking sector, revolutionised the telecommunication sector, revamped the oil and gas, manufacturing, aviation, agriculture, real estate and other critical sectors to turn the inherited moribund economy into one of the fastest growing in the world and handed over a $550 billion economy (largest in Africa and 26th globally) in 2015 to the APC.
“Under the PDP’s result-oriented leadership, our Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) grew to over $8b; our Foreign Exchange Reserves grew from $2bn in 1999 to over $40bn in 2014. Today, under the incompetent and corrupt APC administration our FDI plummeted to $-0.19bn in 2022. The APC government had remained silent to reports by JP Morgan that Nigeria’s Foreign Exchange Reserves had fallen to $3.7bn as at the end of December 2022.
“Sadly, all the gains achieved by the PDP have been rolled back by the APC, which in a space of eight years, wrecked our economy and turned our nation into the poverty capital of the world with frightening 35% unemployment rate, where hunger, starvation, strange diseases and sudden deaths now ravage our citizens.
“The fraudulent APC administration has succeeded in mortgaging the future of our nation with reckless accumulation of N85 trillion foreign debt with no corresponding development project to show for it.
“Under the vicious, corrupt and incompetent APC’s watch, major multinational companies are exiting Nigeria; the Naira has fallen from N197 to US$1 under the PDP to abysmal over N900 to US$1; petrol which sold at N87 per liter by 2015 now sells for over N600 per liter. This is in addition to multiple harsh tariffs, taxes and levies imposed on citizens by the APC administration.
“Life in Nigeria under the APC has become very unbearable such that Nigerians are now resorting to suicide and slavery mission abroad as options.”
