Nigeria’s economy like a cancer patient – Hayatu-Deen

A former Managing Director and Chief Executive of FSB International Bank, Alhaji Mohammed Hayatu- Deen, has described Nigeria’s economy as a cancer patient.

Hayatu-Deen who is a presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said a surgical operation is needed to to revive the economy.

Speaking in Lagos when he met the PDP delegates, the former banker said the first thing to do if elected as the President is to “take the patient to the operation theatre, stop the bleeding and restore it.”

He said new Reforms must be introduced to stabilise the economy through tackling poverty, lack of access to basic utilities and creating massive job opportunities for the youths.

The financial expert reiterated that he would ensure within the next three years, Nigeria becomes an industrial hub competing with countries like Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, among others.

According to him, his policies on economy would be methodically and systematically implemented.

“Much of the crisis that we face in this country today is largely on account of a broken economy that has been left unattended to for many years. So when people have social problems, national security problems, at the root of it is actually an economic problem.”

“There is no need for a young man to take a cutlass, a sword or a gun to go and slaughter a fellow human being if he has gainful employment. He can fend for himself, raise his family, send them to school, put bread and butter on the table.

“So at the root of all of this, don’t let anybody deceive you, fundamentally it is an economic issue that is giving rise to other problems.

“Having been a tested turnaround manager of six institutions with the kind of issue which I understand about the Nigerian economy, I guarantee you that I have the formula for dealing with this issue.

“I will spend all of my days and nights to ensure that we rehabilitate this economy. The economy right now is like a cancer patient. And to be able to fix it, you need to do three things. First and foremost, you need to put this patient on the operation theatre and stop the bleeding and once you stop the bleeding, you are able to restore the patient to a point where it can actually sit up.

“Second you now need to stabilise it by beginning to embark on several reforms that would begin to deal with some of the daily issues that people face; daily issues like poverty, lack of access to utilities, lack of access to good schools, access to safety and security of the people and lack of access to jobs.”

He said part of reviving the economy would be to reconstruct the fabric of the society and tackle the security challenges confronting the country.

“The economy will not work unless we mobilize every citizen and tackle the deep wounds which the nation is suffering from,” he said.

He said he hates to see people suffer, go hungry and lack access to ordinary things they need, saying with massive job creation, poverty would be a forgone issue.