The South East Zonal and Abia State Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee, Chief Emeka Okafor, has said that the economy of Nigeria was better under the late military head of state, Gen Sani Abacha.
During the five years of Abacha, the economy was stable and predictable
Okafor said this while speaking with our correspondent in Umuahia, the state capital, on the prevailing economic situation in the country.
He said that it had, therefore, become imperative for the Federal Government to find a lasting solution to the problems confronting the Nigerian economy.
“During the five years or so when he (Abacha) was on the saddle of power, the $1 exchanged for between N85.00 and N86.00 as against now, when it’s about N400.00, and the economy of the country was both stable and predictable,” Okafor said.
According to him, Abacha’s problem with majority of his critics was that he denied them the opportunity “to use our collective fortunes and resources as their personal estate to concentrate on building a strong economy in the country.”
He accused the present administration of alleged misplaced priorities, lopsided appointments, neglect of the zone and nepotism, saying that it had yet to chart a clear course of direction in its fight against corruption.
Accepting that corruption is one of the major challenges facing the country, Okafor, who is also the state Chairman of the Progressive Peoples Alliance, argued that for the war against corruption to be successful, it must be holistic, not minding the calibre of persons affected.
He also said that despite the defection of the founding leader of the PPA, former governor Orji Uzor Kalu, to the All Progressive Congress, the PPA was still waxing stronger and already preparing for the 2019 general elections.
Okafor, who was a commissioner for trade and commerce under Kalu, condemned what he called the avalanche of litigation that always trailed governorship elections in the state, saying this was time-wasting.
“What the litigants have always failed to understand is that they are not only distracting the governor from focusing on delivering on his election promises, but also dragging the state behind and creating enmity among the people,” he noted.
Asked of his impression about the present administration in the state, he scored Governor Okezie Ikpeazu high, especially in road construction and infrastructure development and solicited the cooperation of the people for the administration.
On whether his party would field a governorship candidate in the elections, despite his belief that Ikpeazu had performed to satisfaction, Okafor maintained that his stand was his personal opinion and not that of the party.
“This is democracy. If someone is doing well, another person can do better than him or her, if given the opportunity. So, as a registered political party, we will fieldcandidates for all the elections, my personal opinion notwithstanding,” he said.
