..Says Nigeria’s GDP Per Capita Once Outpaced China, Malaysia
..Faults Current Reforms, Demands Double-Digit Growth Strategy
…Raises Alarm Over Security Lapses, Power Sector Stagnation
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant, Dr. Gbenga Hashim, has criticised Nigeria’s prolonged reliance on policy prescriptions from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), arguing that the nation’s economic challenges are largely the result of externally driven policy frameworks rather than locally tailored solutions.
Hashim spoke on Monday during an appearance on ARISE TV’s 8pm Prime Time programme, where he discussed Nigeria’s economic outlook, national development priorities, and his proposed $4 trillion economic transformation plan.
The PDP chieftain maintained that Nigeria recorded stronger economic performance when it pursued more independent economic strategies, pointing to historical economic indicators from the 1960s and 1970s.
According to him, Nigeria’s economic standing during that period compared favourably with emerging global economies.
He said, “When Nigeria was not following IMF prescriptions wholesale, our GDP per capita in 1976 was three times that of China, while our GDP was also about double Malaysia’s in 1966.”
Hashim argued that sovereign nations must adopt economic policies suited to their peculiar realities, stressing that IMF recommendations should not be treated as absolute economic blueprints.
He noted that the IMF is not an investor in national economies and that its projections should not be the primary yardstick for measuring economic success.
The PDP presidential hopeful emphasised that the true test of economic growth should be reflected in the living standards of citizens rather than macroeconomic figures alone.
He also downplayed the Federal Government’s celebration of about four per cent GDP growth, describing it as insufficient when measured against what he termed significant economic contraction in recent years.
Hashim claimed that Nigeria’s GDP declined from about $574 billion in 2014 to approximately $230 billion in recent years, arguing that the current administration cannot claim economic progress until the country surpasses the GDP level it inherited in 2015.
Drawing comparisons with previous administrations, he said Nigeria recorded steady economic expansion during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s tenure.
According to him, the country achieved about 5.5 per cent growth in 2000, rising to about 9.5 per cent by 2003.
He insisted that despite its shortcomings, the PDP outperformed the All Progressives Congress (APC) across key sectors of the economy.
On electricity, Hashim accused the APC-led government of failing to significantly improve generation capacity over the last decade.
He alleged that the administration had not made meaningful additions to national power generation within the period.
The PDP aspirant also accused the government of presiding over economic contraction rather than expansion, claiming the country lost about 50 per cent of its GDP value over a 10-year period.
Speaking on agriculture, Hashim alleged that Nigeria lost nearly $4 billion in productive agricultural capital within two years under President Bola Tinubu, attributing the situation to policies he described as attempts to artificially suppress food prices, which he said weakened farmers and disrupted agricultural value chains.
Hashim stressed that Nigeria requires sustained double-digit economic growth to achieve meaningful recovery, rather than what he described as “weak growth outcomes” from current reform initiatives.
He further argued that currency devaluation policies introduced in 1986 have continued without innovation, calling for a Keynesian-style economic stimulus similar to the bold recovery programmes associated with former United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
On security, Hashim condemned the reported killings in Woro community in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State, where nearly 200 people were reportedly killed.
He described the incident as a major national security failure and questioned the response time of security agencies despite the presence of an Air Force facility near the area.
According to him, the development raises serious concerns about the effectiveness of Nigeria’s security architecture.
