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Friday, October 15th, 2004 HOME | Previous Page Obasanjo's economic reforms a failure - Umar By Sukuji Bakoji Bureau Chief, Kaduna Former military Governor of old Kaduna State, Col Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (rtd) has faulted the ongoing economic reforms by President Olusegun Obasanjo, describing it as an exercise in futility. In a chat with journalists on the state of the nation in Kaduna on Thursday, Umar queried the import of the so-called economic reforms of the Federal Government, especially the current poverty alleviation programme that has, rather than improve the masses’ lots, worsen their standard of living. He said it was pitiable that this was happening amidst opportunities of excess revenue accruing to the country's coffers from sales of crude oil in the international oil market. Said he, "We don't have democracy in Nigeria. All we have is a one-man show. He has refused to listen to the voice of reason. Sincerely, the strike action we are experiencing in the country started in 1999 when Obasanjo came to power. We are still in one place, not moving. How do you expect things to work?" He said the situation that has befallen the nation has actually justified his earlier caution to the government against the economic policies and actions of the principal actors in the polity that were misunderstood in some quarters. "Can you imagine that even our president agreed that only 30 per cent of the budget of last year was implemented? What happened to the other per cent of the budget? “Why was that percentage not implemented? How can we take this when we know that a lot of opportunities accrued and came up when the government raked excess revenue from the sale of oil?” Umar queried. "The nation's crude oil is now being sold at above 50 dollars per barrel at the international oil market which should have meant an improvement on our revenue profile. What has happened to our economy? The same old story", Umar said.   Copyright� 2004. All Rights Reserved. Independent Newspapers Limited Block5, Plot 7D, Wempco Road, Ogba, P.M.B. 21777, Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria. www.independentng.com e-mail: [email protected] Designed By Powered By DNet.

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