The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) has described as untenable fallacy and sheer cock-and-bull story the paid newspaper advertisement that the Jonathan-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) diversified the economy, grew the non-oil export sector and enhanced the national economy by 300 percent.
In a signed statement in Abuja on Thursday, Mallam Garba Shehu, APCPCO’s Director of Media and Publicity said that an advertorial placed by the “Forum for Economic Progress”, claiming that “non-oil export has increased by 300% and that Cocoa had brought revenue of over $2 billion in the last two years,” is anything but “blatant lies and bandied poor spin-doctoring by a dying PDP regime clawing to undesirable straws.”
Shehu quoted sources from the Federal Ministry of Trade and Commerce as revealing the true position of things are as: “Official figures show that Nigeria’s total non-oil export stood at $2.9 million in 2013 which declined to $2.7m in 2014. In 2012 export growth was 7.3% which went up to 13.7% in 2013 and later crashed to 8.6% in 2014. At best, Cocoa only brought in a total in $1.2 billion in the two years. This translated to $758 million in 2013 and $666 million in 2014.”
Furthermore, Shehu added that the misinformation about imaginary growth in the non oil sector “falls within the PDP’s narratives of deceit, mischief and clever-by-half communication mannerisms; same as the tissues of lies being exhibited on fuel scarcity, power sector, security, employment, public health and a host of others. The Jonathanians blame everyone and anything in sight except themselves for the avoidable precarious condition they have thrown our once prosperous nation.”