The Federal Government on Friday said late General Sani Abacha’s regime was one of the most controversial in Nigeria’s history.
This is even as it explained reasons why Abacha was among those who received the centenary award for 100 Nigerians.
During the Centenary honours Award night which held at the Presidential villa in Abuja, the federal government said he was also a Nigerian soldier and politician who served as the de facto President of Nigeria from1993 to 1998 and his regime was the first to record unprecedented economic achievements in Nigeria’s history.
The Federal Government also noted that Abacha oversaw an increase in the country’s foreign exchange reserves from $494 million in 1993 to $9.6 billion by the middle of 2997, reduced the external debt of Nigeria from $36 billion in 1993 to $27 billion in 1997.
Abacha, the government noted had brought all the controversial privatization programs of the Babangida administration to a halt, reduced an inflation rate of 54 per cent inherited from Babangida to 8.5 per cent between 1993 and 1998, while the nation’s primary commodity, oil was at an average of $9 per barrel.
His administration was also said to be credited with creating the most comprehensive and realistic blueprint for Nigeria’s development through Vision 2010 committee chaired by his predecessor, Chief Enerst Shonekan.
