Judicious management of the Treasury Single Account and the anti-corruption drive of the Federal Government is responsible for the survival of the Nigerian economy. This is according to the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who mentioned this on Thursday at the All Nigerian Editors Conference taking place in Port Harcourt.
According to ThisDay reporter, Olawale Ajimotokan, the Minister listed these 2 factors alongside the elimination of ghost workers as major reasons why the economy is still standing. He lamented the refusal to shore up the country’s foreign reserves when crude oil price was high as being responsible for the current economic recession the country is experiencing.
”Here in Nigeria, with oil selling consistently for over 100 dollars a barrel for many years, we simply failed to save for the rainy day, with the result that a country with a population of over 170 million today has just 26 billion dollars in foreign reserves. To compound this, the fall in the price of crude is having a ripple effect: the scarcity of foreign exchange, which has resulted from the oil price crash, means that industries are struggling to get foreign exchange to import raw materials and machinery”, the Minister stated.
He further extolled the recent focus on agricultural production as a long-lasting panacea to the country’s over-dependence on revenue from crude oil and importation of staple food items.
It can be noted that Nairametrics earlier reported that the country was facing the first full year recession since 1987 amid crisis surrounding low crude prices, forex scarcity and reduced revenue generation.
More details on this story can be found from Thisday.
News Team/ ThisDay