Ezekwesili’s criticism of Buhari’s policies shows she is not an APC puppet

 

Dr Ezekwesili

Dr. (Mrs.) Obiageli Ezekwesili has finally shown critics that she is nobody’s lackey.

In a society where anything you say – no matter how honest your opinion is –pins a label on you, people had accused the chartered accountant of being a stooge of the APC. She has been extremely vocal over corruption and the state of the economy. She was also instrumental to the #bringbackourgirls campaign on social media after Boko Haram kidnapped over 200 schoolgirls from Chibok two years ago.

Her relentless attacks on the past administration and some its principal officers made people tag her anti-Jonathan and pro-Buhari in spite of her denials that she was seeking any appointment from the Buhari administration.

Finally, Ezekwesili, a former Vice President of the World Bank, has turned her scathing tongue on the Buhari administration. She castigated the President’s economic policies, tagging them “archaic” and “opaque.”

Speaking at The Platform, a public policy forum organised in Abuja by the Covenant Christian Centre, Ezekwesili said Buhari’s current economic policies are similar to those he promulgated during the military regime he led in the 1980s. She wondered how a policy that didn’t work back then could work now.

“During the first coming of this our new president, a command and control economic system was adopted,” she said. “During that era, inflation spiralled. During that era, jobs were lost. During that era, the economic growth level dipped. That era wasn’t the best of eras in economic progress.

“What did not work in 1984 cannot possibly be a solution in a global economy that’s much more integrated.”

According to her, Buhari was rehashing the same “command and control” approach towards economic issues that has left the country’s economic indices worse off since he assumed office almost year ago.

“In over one year, the president is still holding to the premise that command and control is the only way out. In a year we have lost the single digits inflation status we maintained in past administrations.”

The former Minister of Education also criticized the administration’s distortion of foreign exchange system, which she said has left the poor it was intended to support even worse off.

“The president comes into this economic philosophy on the premise that he does not want the poor to suffer. I can relate to that, a leader must not allow the poor to suffer, especially a leader who knows that most of his votes came not from the elite but from the poor,” she said.

“The problem though is that the intention and the outcome are diverged. The weakest and the most vulnerable suffer the impact of inflation the most. Enormous power is being abused as a result of opaque economic policies. Companies are suddenly finding themselves unable to produce because they’re unable to access foreign exchange.”

She advised Buhari to, along with his administration officials, reconsider the impact his “well-intended idea of command and control economic principle” have had on the nation’s economy.

“He should do what the Americans say that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Mrs. Ezekwesili concluded.

The Vice President, who gave the keynote address at the forum, has responded to Ezekwesili’s comments.

Speaking through his Senior Special Assistant, the VP said Ezekwesili’s views are “elitist” and that there is nothing archaic about the administration’s policies.

“What is archaic in the attempts by the present administration to diversify the economy and spur technological innovation?” he said.

“You cannot come up with your own unclear elitist summary of the economy. Although she is entitled to her opinion because this is a democracy.”

Are we about to have another verbal slugfest? If so, game on!

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