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Umar faults reforms, budget implementation
From Saxone Akhaine, Kaduna
FORMER Military Administrator of Kaduna State, Col. Abubakar Umar (rtd), has faulted President Olusegun Obasanjo's economic reforms. He decried the current poverty level, which he described as worrisome.
Umar lamented that Nigerians are poorer under a regime that has excess funds from the sales of crude oil in the international market.
"We don't have democracy in Nigeria, all we have is a one-man show and he has refused to listen to the voice of reason. Sincerely, the strike we are experiencing in the country, to me, 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.
Umar told The Guardian in Kaduna last week that the state of the economy has confirmed his earlier caution to the Federal Government against the policies and actions of its principal actors. He said his position was misunderstood in some quarters.
He asked: "Can you imagine that even our President agreed that only 30 per cent of the budget of last year was implemented? What happens to the other percentage 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".
The retired army officer argued that in spite of the excess revenue, there had been no improvement in the economy, claiming that no meaningful projects were executed to address the plight of Nigerians.
He said the social and economic structures were still in their ailing state, with many Nigerians becoming apprehensive of what would become of the nation.
Speaking on the way out of the current economic quagmire and the strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Umar called for more prayers: "You know the President and those around him also believe in prayers, let us pray to God to save us from this present situation".
He continued: "As for me, I don't think there is any change, things have not changed from what they were since 1999. In fact, the strike started since 1999 and what we have today in Nigeria is far from democracy. We don't have democracy yet in Nigeria, otherwise, one person or a clique of people would not be able to force their will on us".
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