Don’t blame Buhari for economic hardship in Nigeria – VP Shettima

Vice-President Kashim Shettima has said that the immediate past administration of Muhammadu Buhari should not be blamed for the failure of the current problems in the country.

He said the current administration will not hold the previous administration responsible for the difficulties it faced upon assuming office.

He said this during the Chronicle Roundtable organized by the 21st Century Chronicle.

The Vice President noted that leading in a political capacity in Nigeria during the period is particularly challenging given the current issues the country is experiencing.

He said, “The President chose the option that will save the lives of the people instead of the ones that will lead to the prolong the economic death. We will not resort to put the blame on previous administration as leadership is about courage, continuity.

“Before we took charge, the biggest elephant in the room was about fuel subsidy removal. It was an albatross round the neck of the nation for the past 20 to 30 years. We understood why our predecessor decided to remove subsidy because there were no sufficient budget for it in the fiscal year.

“A year before we took office, Nigeria’s debt service to revenue ratio had grown to 111.18 percent. It was an economic death sentence.

“To be plain to us, our debt service was that if you earn N100,000, you are forced to borrow an additional N11,800 to pay the debtor. How do we intend to survive this? It will be long before we become a pariah.

“We have to jettison the subsidy regime, it was a bitter pill to swallow but we had to do it.”