The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is demanding for the sack of the Finance Minister, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed for misinforming Nigerians over the printing of paper money to bridge the financial gap for last month.
According to the party, the minister lied when she said the government did not print N60 billion distributed to states as federal allocation.
Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki had revealed that N60 billion was printed and shared as federal allocations to states during the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee in March, warning that recourse to ways and means financing could complicate the country’s huge debt profile and hurt the economy.
Zainab had denied the development, describing Obaseki’s revelation as false and saddening.
But the PDP believes that the admission by CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, that the apex bank had been printing money at the bidding of government underscores its earlier stand that the Buhari-led APC administration is characterized by concealment, deceit and falsehood.
The National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement on Friday, berate the minister for attempting to mislead Nigerians by denying the revelations by the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, that N60 billion was printed in March to support federal allocation to states.
As per the party, “Obaseki, as a financial expert, who is not known for flippancy, must be commended for his act of patriotism in exposing the dire economic situation our nation has been plunged under the Buhari administration.
“A situation where the Federal Government cannot articulate and implement policies favourable to wealth creation but resorting to borrowing and indiscriminate printing of currency notes, only goes to further confirm that the Buhari administration lacks the credibility and capacity to run a nation.
“Indeed, the admission by the CBN governor that “Nigeria is unfortunately in a very bad situation” further justifies our position that the Buhari-led APC administration has wrecked the economy of our nation.
“Our party is worried over the huge negative impact of indiscriminate printing of currency which has led to the unprecedented rise in inflation rate to 18.17% as disclosed by the Bureau of National Statistics (NBS) on Thursday,” it said.
PDP said this situation had led to further economic hardship with surging prices and fallen purchasing power throwing millions of families in distress and unable to afford the basic necessities of life.
The main opposition therefore called out President Buhari to come clean on the amount that had been printed so far by the CBN to finance the deficit caused by the financial mismanagement of his government as well as what the funds had been used for.
“Furthermore, for failing the full disclosure test, the PDP demands that the Minister of Finance should immediately be relieved of her position, while the President accepts responsibility for the indiscriminate printing of currency in our naira,’ the party said further.
“Our party implores President Buhari to save our nation by allowing better hands to manage and salvage our economy before it is too late. ”
