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Atiku Abubakar. |
It
is with a very heavy heart that I received the news that the Republic of Ghana
has overtaken our dear nation as West Africa’s largest recipient of foreign
direct investment.
For all the years that the Peoples
Democratic Party governed Nigeria, including the eight years of which I was
Vice President, Nigeria always set the pace for Africa in terms of foreign
direct investment and became the number one recipient of FDI in Africa in 2013
under a PDP administration. In that year, we also became Africa’s largest
economy, thanks to the PDP’s leadership.
As a businessman and employer of labour,
I am disappointed that a nation with 15% of our population has outperformed us
in this area. This is an economic emergency that must be addressed.
Sadly, this unfortunate economic
indicator has escaped the attention of the current administration, who are more
interested in hounding real and imagined opponents, like the Chief Justice of
Nigeria and many legislators, than in addressing the rapid economic decline
Nigeria is witnessing under their watch.
I foresaw this happening, which is why I
was in the United States last week to get foreign investors who have been
divesting from Nigeria, to return their investments. Prior to my US trip, I had
undertaken similar missions in Europe and the Orient.
It is of particular importance to
understand why Nigeria has become an economic pariah under the present
administration leading to us becoming the world headquarters for extreme
poverty. When you have a leader who habitually travels abroad to de-market his
own nation and its economy, things like this are bound to happen.
It is further exacerbated when that same
leader stubbornly blames his predecessors for problems he caused, while at the
same time taking credit for achievements and progress initiated and delivered
by those same leaders he makes a habit of denigrating.
Economic challenges will bow only to
proper agenda. Propaganda has no effect on them and will only make a bad
situation worse, as we see today.
Therefore, I solemnly declare to
Nigerians, that if I am elected President on February 16, 2019, I will be
Nigeria’s Chief Marketing Officer, and will never speak ill of our economy, our
polity and our youths. My utterances, both at home and abroad, will be used to
lift Nigeria’s economy because Atiku means JOBS.
I believe in JOBS - Jobs, Opportunity, Being United and Security and it is time to get Nigeria Working Again.
I,
therefore, make this promise to all Nigerians, elect me, and I assure you the
good people of Nigeria, that we will regain our status as Africa’s top
recipient of FDI.
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