The campaign group of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, Thursday, mocked President Muhamadu Buhari for not funding the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
In a statement in Abuja, the group said it was shocked with the testimony of the Statistician General of the Federation, Yemi Kale, the government was not funding the NBS.
Quoting Mr. Kale, the Atiku group said the NBS is unable to release the annual unemployment report as mandated by law because the Buhari administration has starved the agency of funds to perform the essential service.
“Throughout the 16 years that the Peoples Democratic Party governed this nation, their various governments never took this route, but funded the NBS to perform its statutory duty,” the Atiku group stated.
“We know for a fact that the Muhammadu Buhari administration is in a state of panic because of the unprecedented unemployment numbers in Nigeria and is desperate to hide that information from the public.
“If the Buhari administration can afford N1.1 billion to fumigate the office of the national security adviser, if they can afford ₦3.5 million every month to feed Ibrahim El Zakzaky, then they can afford to release funds for the NBS to perform its statutory duty of releasing the nation’s job report.”
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While Mr. Buhari promised to create three million jobs per annum during the 2015 presidential campaigns; the group said he ended up causing over three million jobs loses every year since he was sworn in on May 29, 2015.
“Since the Buhari administration came to being, 11 million Nigerians have lost their jobs and in December of 2017, the NBS under Yemi Kale, announced that 7.9 million Nigerians lost their jobs in the 21 months period under review.
“It is safe to draw the conclusion that if the NBS had been funded and able to release the now due 2018 job reports, the total figure of jobs lost under the present administration may climb higher than the present 11 million jobs.
“Thus, we can understand why this failed administration is desperate to cover that information up; however, the Atiku Presidential Campaign Organisation insists that Nigerians deserve to know the truth no matter how unpalatable it may be,” the statement concluded.
