President Jonathan has Done Well for Economy – Reno Omokri

The Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on New Media, Reno Omokri, has urged the opposition, All Progressives Congress, APC, not to be harbinger of negative stories about the country.

He noted that it is regrettable that while the APC is always the first to propagate negative and sad stories about Nigeria, the party is always reluctant to admit and celebrate good news about the country.
"President Jonathan remains committed to his pact with Nigerians. For him, it is not about him or PDP; it is not about religion or ethnicity but what is best for Nigeria. He recognises our challenges, he does not shy away from them which was why he came up with the transformation agenda which is a practical step on how to address the challenges and make the country attain her full potentials and fulfil the dreams of our heroes past and forefathers".

Omokri was reacting to the recent rating of Nigeria as the third fastest-growing economy by international Cable News Network, CNN.

He added that it is regrettable that the opposition will not celebrate the positive outlook but would have rushed to the media with press releases if it was the other way round.

Muhammadu Buhari was making his Presidential Declaration he said and I quote "the economy is down". With this rating by the experts it is now clear that the economy is up. Perhaps Gen. Buhari was referring to his time as military Head of State when the economy was truly down and Nigeria could not meet its international financial obligations".

Continuing further, Omokri said "This present rating is not a fluke. Do not forget that the UNCTAD said that Nigeria has the 4th highest rate of return in the world, that the International Food Policy Research Institute said that hunger in Nigeria is reducing, that the World Bank said that poverty in Nigeria is down by 2%, that Transparency International said that corruption in Nigeria had reduced. The APC are sad and quiet because of these strides and because CNN says Nigeria is the worlds 3rd fastest growing economy. They would have been happy and loud If we were least growing. It is saddening that APC play politics with everything. They will either labour to discredit this fact or cast aspersion on the integrity of the organisation. It is sad that APC do not want to hear anything good about Nigeria"

Omokri said the rating is a testament of the prudent economy policies of the government and the tenacity of Nigerians.

"I am without doubt that Nigerians are happy with the rating outlook, which will spur the government to do more. It is a plus to Nigeria and a confidence boost to Nigerians that notwithstanding the economy challenges and the drop in the global price of oil, the country is still on the path of prosperity and economy development. The president has always maintained that there are challenges but this administration is more than determined to tackle them and transform the country for a prosperous future," he said.

You may wish to know that CNN Money, a business analysis programme, on Friday listed Nigeria as one of the fastest growing economies for 2015. According to the report, in 2014, Nigeria's Economy grew by 7.1 per cent.

It said that in 2015 the economy was expected to grow by another 7 per cent.

"By our estimate, the fastest growing economies in 2015 will be China, Qatar and Nigeria.