Recession: FG Summons Emergency Meeting

By Dipo Olowookere

President Muhammadu Buhari has conveyed an emergency meeting of his economic team led by his Vice, Prof Yemi Osinbajo.

At the meeting are Ministers, heads of relevant Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

The session is holding in Abuja and the agenda is to discuss ways to revamp the country’s dwindling economy.

At the end of the meeting, the Federal Government is expected to tell Nigerians how it would salvage the country from its current economic woes.

Nigeria has struggled to breathe for a while now due to the fall of prices of crude oil in the international market. The volume of crude oil produced in Nigeria has dropped too because of renewed attacks by militants in the Niger Delta region, where production takes place.

Also, the Naira has weakened against the Dollar in the foreign exchange market, with the Naira going for over N400 to a Dollar.

This has further affected the prices of commodities in the country, with most skyrocketing by over 200 percent.

In August 2017, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said the country’s economy was in recession, though the government disagreed.

The NBS said Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted by 2.06 percent after shrinking 0.36 in the first quarter.