I Never Said Nigeria Will Finally Exit Recession 2020—Minister

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr Udoma Udo Udoma, has refuted reports in some sections of the media on Tuesday claiming that he said Nigeria’s economy will finally be out of recession in 2020.

A statement signed yesterday by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr Akpandem James, disclosed that the Minister was misquoted by newsmen.

Mr Akpandem pointed out the reporters misinterpreted what his boss said on Monday when he gave a speech at a retreat organized by the National Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER).

“It was learnt that correspondents of the newspapers in question got their story second-hand from a syndicate source in Ibadan. The Minister never said so.

“At the retreat which none of the affected newspapers was represented, the Minister spoke of the state of the economy and steps taken towards recovery and eventual diversified inclusive growth.

“He was happy that efforts made so far are yielding fruits as evident in the economy climbing out of recession in the second quarter of 2017, earlier than anticipated.

“He explained that even though initial permutations were that the country will be exiting recession by the third quarter of 2017, it was heart-warming that the Second Quarter NBS GDP Report indicated that the economy was already out of recession,” the statement explained.

The Minister was quoted in the statement as saying that while the news of exiting recession was encouraging, there is still a lot more work required to realise the full promise of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), which is to have a rapidly growing economy with diversified sources of growth, increased opportunities and a socially inclusive economy that reduces poverty and creates jobs for young people entering the labour market annually.

“Our job is not done until we have realized Nigeria’s full potential as a major player in the world economy, Mr Udoma added.”

According to the statement, the reference to 2020 was made when the Minister was explaining the principles and objectives of the ERGP (2017 – 2020) and government’s commitment towards restoring growth from a negative trend in 2016 to 7 percent by 2020.

He therefore emphasized the need for Nigerians to partner with government through investments in human capital development, through job creation and also in production of quality goods to make them competitive, since one of the aims of the ERGP is to build a globally competitive economy.

He said government was targeting the achievement of 7 percent growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by the end of the plan period which is the year 2020.