Ekiti state governor, Ayo Fayose reacts to news of Nigeria exiting recession, says Statistics are meaningless to hungry Nigerians

Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, has faulted claims by the federal government that Nigeria is out of economic recession. The Nigeria Bureau of Statistics two days ago, announced that Nigeria had exited recession. Speaking through his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose said

“The reality is that Nigerians are suffering and dying, with foods and drugs out of their reach and no among of economic statistics will make meaning to people who cannot afford to eat once daily. Claiming that Nigeria is out of economic recession without any corresponding effect on the living condition of the people is just like they said Boko Haram had been defeated and over 400 people were killed by the insurgents in the last five months.

“If Nigeria is indeed out of economic recession, has price of foodstuffs like rice reduced to N7, 000 per bag that it was when Buhari took over power? Is dollar now N197 to $1? Is petrol now back to N87 per litre that Buhari met it in May 2015? Are Nigerians now feeding comfortably, even if it is once in a day? Most importantly, are States now getting enough allocation from the federation account to be able to meet their obligations, especially payment of salary?”

Speaking further, the governor said the claim was nothing but another attempt by the President Buhari-led APC government to deceive Nigerians ahead of the 2019 elections.

“It must be stated that Nigeria’s foreign reserves, which stood at $28.6 billion by May 2015 that President Buhari took over power declined steadily to $23.89 billion by the last quarter of 2016. It was in 2016 that Nigeria slipped into recession, owing to the bad economic policies and repressive actions of President Buhari. It is sad that the APC government has remained on the path of lies and propaganda and I wonder why the government can’t be truthful for once. However, if this latest lie is about 2019 general elections, they have missed it because Nigerians can no longer be received by the APC lying government. Nigerians should therefore disregard their lies and keep praying for God intervention in the affairs of the country,”.