Former Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku has declared that President Muhamadu Buhari Government lacks the capacity to address the current challenges in the nation.

Atiku, the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) in 2019 general election disclosed this in a series of posts on his Account, Sunday.

He maintained that the Government was ill advised to approve the sum of $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery which he said ought to be privatised hasn’t yielded profit to the Government for years.

The former Vice President called on Nigerians to support the Government towards reducing the unemployment level, insecurity and other issues of concern.

He said the report from Bloomberg Business on Saturday, March 27, 2021 that Nigeria would emerge as the nation with the highest unemployment rate on Earth, at just over 33 percent, confirmed his earlier prediction.

“We are at a precipice as a nation and the truth is that all stakeholders and elder statesmen have to speak up on time, while there is still a Nigeria to save.

“This Government obviously lacks the capacity to address our current challenges, and we must help them, not because of the government, but because of our people.

“As a nation, we are better off privatising our refineries and the NNPC through the time-tested LNG model in which the FG owns 49% equity and the private sector 51 percent.

He recalled that in 20 years ending 2020, the NLNG had delivered $18.3 billion dividends to government irrespective of taxes and other benefit accruals to the Country.

“And with the paucity of funds, we continue to ramp up government involvement in sectors that ought to be left to private sector, with the latest being the ill advised $1.5 billion so called rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery that has failed to turn a profit for years.

He also commended the Federal Government employment for 774,000 Special Public Works jobs for the youth, which ought to have started in January of 2021, but advised that it must be done with proper agenda, rather than propaganda.

“Perhaps we may want to consider the Malaysian model, whereby with the exception of very few highly specialised jobs, foreign contractors are not allowed to import labour into the Country”, he said.

According to him, “Nigeria must move towards a single exchange rate to be determined by market forces. Secondly, the federal and state governments must reduce taxes, to make Nigeria more business friendly”.

“And finally, financial and monetary institutions, like the Central Bank of Nigeria, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, must be free from the type of political  influence that resulted in the prohibition of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies”, he said.

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