Nigerian Economy Growing Despite Low Revenue, Others—FG

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

The federal government has said it should be praised for keeping the Nigerian economy on the growth path despite the “very, very difficult circumstances” caused by low revenue, inflation, COVID-19 and others.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, while addressing reporters in Abuja on Wednesday after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, said the decline in earnings from the sale of crude oil affected the pool of funds available for the government to perform optimally.

She said despite this challenge, the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has been able to provide the infrastructure that has helped to lead the economy on a growth path.

“I need to remind us all here that in 2015, the administration came on and met a crisis in the oil and gas sector; we had the first slump in crude oil prices and a very significant slump in crude oil production.

“There was a time the volumes went as low as one million barrels per day. We were able to take measures to reflate the economy and exit the recession within three quarters. By the fourth quarter, we were out of recession.

“Secondly, we had a second recession due to COVID-19. That was even a shorter recession and we have seen now up to five quarters of positive growth.

So, the economy has been growing, despite very, very difficult circumstances.

“The other thing I need to remind us is that this administration has been able to realize the lowest oil and gas revenue, compared to all previous administrations, but it has also been able to do much more in terms of deployment of infrastructure. So, the administration has done well,” Mrs Ahmed said.

The Minister, while also answering questions surrounding the depletion of the Excess Crude Account (ECA) to less than half a million Dollars from over $35 million last month, she said the money was used to secure the country and not spent lavishly.

“On the issue of the Excess Crude Account, in the past four years, because of volatility in the oil market, we have not had accrual to the account.

“So, what we have had has been gradually used up for different purposes and it is always used in consultation with the National Economic Council (NEC), that is the governors because this is a federation account.

“The last approval that was given by the council was the withdrawal of $1 billion to enhance security. We have been utilizing that.

“The last tranche of that has been finally released because deployment to security agencies is based on the contracts executed and it’s been used strictly for that security purpose. So, the utilization of the account is with the full knowledge of the governors,” she stated.