Unproductive Economy Caused Nigeria’s Recession—Adeosun

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, has revealed the real cause of Nigeria slumping into recession last year.

Mrs Adeosun, who has been working effortlessly to ensure the Nigerian economy was restored to normal, stated on Tuesday that years of not planning enough for the future was majorly the reason the country fell into crisis.

During a live Facebook session with Nigerians, the Minister pointed out that for the last 10 years, Nigeria’s economy had really not been too productive.

“We got into recession because, for the last 10 years, even when the oil price was extremely high, and we were borrowing, our reserves were decreasing.

“We didn’t have enough of a productive economy. The only real thing that was happening and creating growth was the oil price, and as soon as the oil price went down, growth disappeared.

“What we are trying to do now is to reset the economy, so that we are not so dependent on oil,” the Minister told the over 100,000 persons that participated in the live social media session.

However, she said the present administration was working hard to turn things around for the good for Nigeria.

At the 23-minute event, filmed at the Ministry of Finance headquarters in Abuja, and broadcast live through her Facebook page, the Minister said the Finance Ministry was working to support SMEs, create jobs, improve transparency, cut the cost of governance, and boost government revenues.

“The good news is that we are working through the issues one by one, and trying to ensure that as we rebuild the economy, we get away from the boom and bust cycle of the past — we want to build an economy where, whether oil price is high or low, there’s sustainable growth for Nigeria and for Nigerians,” she said.

According to her, the Federal Government is doing this by investing heavily in infrastructure and working to create an enabling environment for businesses.

One evidence of this renewed focus is the fact that the Ministry of Finance has so far released N1 trillion for infrastructure projects in the 2016 budget; a level of infrastructure investment unprecedented in Nigeria’s history, she said.