[Full Text] FG replies Obasanjo, lists achievements

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT [Full Text] FG replies Obasanjo, lists achievements

The Federal Government on Wednesday replied to an elder statesman , Olusegun Obasanjo ’ s criticism of President Muhammadu Buhari ’ s administration .
The Minister of Information and National Orientation , Lai Mohammed , gave the response in a seven - page statement. He thanked the ex - president for his letter.

FULL STATEMENT :
We have read the press statement by former President Olusegun Obasanjo on the State of the Nation .
For the record , Chief Obasanjo is a patriot , and he has proven this time and time again. We appreciate what he said concerning the Administration’ s performance in two out of the three key issues that formed the plank of its campaign : Fighting corruption and tackling
insurgency . Specifically , the former President said President Buhari must be given credit for his achievement so far in these two areas . We
thank him for this .
Apparently , the former President believes that the Administration does not deserve a pass mark in the area of the economy , which is the third of our three -pronged campaign promises .
We have no doubt that in the face of massive challenges in this area , this Administration has availed itself creditably . We believe that Chief Obasanjo , because of his very busy schedule , may not have been fully availed of developments in the government’ s efforts to revamp the economy , which was battered by the consequences of over -dependence on a commodity as well as unprecedented pillaging of the treasury .
Today , most of the indices by which an economy is measured are looking up . Permit me to say , however , that Nigeria would not have exited recession through a mere order or if the Administration had not made use of ” good Nigerians ” who could help.

This Administration is making steady progress in its determined effort to revamp the economy , and the results are showing :
* Foreign Reserves have peaked at $ 40 b , the highest level in about four years , and up from $ 24 billion just a year ago , even though when we came in , the price of oil had crashed woefully .
* According to the National Bureau of Statistics ( NBC ) , headline inflation has fallen for 11 consecutive months , standing at 15 . 37 % as at Dec. 2017 . This is the lowest inflation rate since Jan 2017 , and it has met and surpassed the target set for inflation in the Administration ’ s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan ( ERGP ) .
* Our determined implementation of the Treasury Single Account ( TSA ) has stopped the haemorrhaging of the treasury . Some 108 billion Naira has been saved from removal of maintenance fees payable to banks , pre -TSA . The nation is being saved 24 . 7 billion Naira monthly with the full implementation of the TSA .
* The elimination of ghost workers has saved the nation 120 billion Naira Home