Buhari not responsible for economic woes in Nigeria – Senator Uchendu

An ex-lawmaker representing Rivers East Senatorial District, APC, Senator Andrew Uchendu said President Buhari-led regime is not directly responsible for the economic and insecurity misfortune in the nation.

Uchendu made this known in Port Harcourt on Tuesday shortly after his inauguration as Grand Patron by the Frontier for Peace and Unity, a Non-Governmental Organisation in the South-South.

The former lawmaker faulted the present hardship in the nation on poor policies and programmes of successive governments beginning from 1992.

He added that the Buhari-led administration was presently developing the required infrastructure for a progressive future.

Uchendu said, “However, if you say that President Buhari has done well in the marketplace and church, you may be stoned or criticised. But the truth is that he has performed well.

“The gullibility of the society has made it difficult for us to reason and see the truth in the tremendous milestones this administration has made.

“People forget that Nigeria’s problems have been made complex by the failures of successive administration since 1992, which cannot be solely pinned on one government or anybody.

“The government has invested heavily in agriculture, resulting in the tremendous growth in local rice production, partly helped by the ban on foreign rice imports.

“Government is reactivating the oil palm production; reactivation of ports, railways and development of roads and bridges are ongoing.

“Currently, the second Niger Bridge is being constructed while the airports have been expanded and upgraded to increase commerce in the country.

“Also, programmes, such as N-power and ‘Trader Moni’ have been created to gainfully engage unemployed citizens.”

Uchendu added that Nigeria cannot achieve viable economic development without first tackling the major problems, which in accordance with him, the present government was doing.

The former lawmaker urged states in the South-South to realign and identify workable strategies to profit from the Federal Government policies and programmes as other states had done.

Uchendu expressed gratitude to the group for the honour and appealed to the members to be committed to their main goal of advocating peace and unifying the nation.