Former Special Adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo on Research, Dr. Umar Ardo, has said that there cannot be any economic resuscitation in the country without bringing in the ministers and other aides of former President Muhammadu Buhari to account for their tenure in office.
In a statement he issued on Saturday, Ardo who was also a close associate of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, said Nigerians should know in whose interest the over $72 billion debts incurred under former President Buhari were incurred.
He explained that Nigerians must know how such loans impacted the economy.
Ardo who was also the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Adamawa State in the last general election, said that no matter what President Tinubu does in terms of resuscitating the economy, the foundation will remain faulty.
“There can be no resuscitating of the Nigerian economy by Tinubu’s administration without first bringing the previous Buhari regime to account for certain fundamental actions occasioned by it that are central to the current economic downturn.
“These include the depleting of the nation’s foreign reserves; the incurring of huge debts, running to $72 billion; the printing of trillions of naira; and the prima facie obscene embezzling of public funds by its key functionaries. With suffocating debts, interests, servicing and payments,” he said.
Ardo explained that these fundamental issues combined to create the economic and social collapse of the country.
He said, “if President Tinubu is to resuscitate the economy, he must first have to deal with these fundamentals.
“Are we going to continue servicing the interests and paying back these debts? Of course, we are. But why? Were these debts incurred in the interest and for the benefit of the Nigerian economy?
“If yes, then why have they drawn us into this messy economic situation? Obviously, something fundamentally wrong happened either in the loans’ terms, in the usage of the facilities, or both.
“Whatever it is, the Tinubu regime must have to find out and resolve the defects if it must fix the economy and build a solid future for the country. And the only way to do it is to bring the Buhari government to account for these fundamentals,” Ardo added.
Chuks Okocha
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