A former governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, has disclosed that the current economic recession afflicting the country started two years ago, adding that when he drew attention to the development in 2014, he was abused by those in power at the time for pointing it out.
The recession of Nigeria’s economy was confirmed when the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, issued a report claiming that the economy shrank by 2.06 percent in the second quarter of 2016, after the economy contracted by 0.36 percent in the first quarter of 2016.
The former governor, who spoke to newsmen at the weekend in Umuahia, the Abia state capital, where he was hosted by some prominent Umuahia indigenes, stated that the recession started back in 2014 when he said the Federal Government was borrowing money to pay civil servants.
According to him, “The recession started in 2014. It is just that Nigerians are biased. When I shouted in 2014 when Federal started borrowing money to pay civil servants and I said there was recession, they abused me, but I saw it coming because I am an employer of labour with over 9000 Nigerian workers, so I am an authority.
“I believe that President Buhari needs emergency laws to tackle the recession. The President has to design special law and send to the National Assembly to grant him emergency powers to tackle the economic recession because we have no two ways to go. We need to know that our belts should be tightened very well,” Kalu maintained.
He called for greater support f0r artisans who he said are presently the greatest force in the nation’s economy and for special attention and support for manufacturers.
“The moment the manufacturing sector attains full-capacity production, there will be less dependence on importation and this will shore up the value of the naira,” Kalu explained, even as he blamed the activities of Niger Delta militants for continued dwindling of the national revenue which led to a full-blown recession.
