Jonathan Alone Cannot Be Blamed For Economic Failures - Senator Enang

Following the allegations about the state of national economy raised by the new faction of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chairman of Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Ita Enang, has stated that if there was any problem with the economy, both the executive and the legislature should be held responsible.

According to senator, all political parties represented in the government at the national level, could not exonerate themselves from any possible failure of the Nigerian economy.

Enang, who represents Akwa Ibom North East on the platform of PDP, arued that since President Goodluck Jonathan always take any decisions on major economic issues to the National Assembly - that comprises representatives of different political parties and gives the president approval to carry out implementation of economic policies - he alone should not be blamed if something goes wrong in the economy.

However, Chairman of Senate Committee on Trade and Investment, Odion Ugbesia, disagreed with those claiming that the nation’s economy was facing bad time. Instead, "the economy is as it should be. It is better than what it was many years ago,” he noted.

On his part, Chairman of Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Enyinaya Abaribe, said the upper legislative chamber would reserve its comment on the issue pending outcome of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) which was referred to the Committee on Finance and Appropriation.

“Why do you want the Senate to react to a reported speech from somebody else, you would have known that as at Thursday, the Medium Term Economic Framework that was sent by the government which gave a breakdown on how the whole economy is, was referred by the Senate to the Chairman of the Committee on Finance, so that they can give us their own information on what it is before we make an informed comment," he stated.

It will be recalled,that last week the new PDP faction led by Kawu Baraje blamed the Jonathan's administration for a range of grave economic problems in the country, such as wage arrears and unemployment.