The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) says the inability of President Muhammadu Buhari to form his cabinet for smooth take off of his administration in the third month of his inauguration is leading the country into economic quagmire and doldrums. The opposition party in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, also criticized President Buhari’s new regulations on foreign exchange transactions in Nigeria, describing it as “illegal!.”
“In the past, we had given examples of the devastating effect of lack of an economic team and a clear-cut fiscal policy by this administration as evidenced in the lull and painful decline in the stock market, spiral rate of inflation, the disastrous outing of the government team in bilateral talks during the recent visit to the United States of America and the shambolic state of our economy at present,” PDP said.
The statements read further: “In a desperate attempt to create a semblance of movement out of the clearly motionless and stoic state of affairs of this government, they have reeled out bans and complete clampdown on free trade. One begins to wonder therefore whether we are not heading back to the era of import duty licenses and regulation of commodity prices.
“The most disturbing aspect of this communist economic agenda is the illegal and unlawful attempt to repeal the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, otherwise known as Decree No 17 of 1995 and replace it with unilateral imposition of new regulations. This Act remains the subsisting law regulating the operations of domiciliary accounts in Nigeria and by its provisions therefore, Nigerians are empowered to freely open and operate domiciliary accounts.”
According to the PDP, any enactment and or regulation inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are deemed void. “The recent foreign exchange transaction restrictions by this government are illegal, unlawful and void,” Metu said.
By Olisemeka Obeche
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