The Minister, on Friday in Abuja, said that the Federal Government is on top of the situation.
“What I can assure you is that we are on top of the situation and we are confident that the second half of the year will be better than the previous.
“Some of the things that impacted on this first two quarters were the acute fall in the price of crude oil,” he said. Mohammed said that the development was not new to the government, adding that measures were being taken to reverse the trend.
“One thing we cannot take away from this government is that it is open, honest and will not keep Nigerians in the dark. “About a month ago, the Minister of Finance actually told all of us that we are already technically in recession.
“Recession is not an event, it is a process. We knew more than five years ago that the country is heading towards recession because the structure of our economy is faulty.
“Faulty in the sense that for many years we have relied in one product, crude oil,” he said. The minister said the crash in the cost of crude oil and the activities of militants in the Niger Delta region which brought down production were largely responsible for the situation.
He explained that “because of the crash in the cost of crude oil, we lost about 60 per cent of our earnings. He said: “Crude oil that used to sell for about 100 dollars per barrel, today we are hovering between 40 and 45 dollars per barrel.
“The 2016 budget projected 2.2 million barrels per day at 38 dollars. But because of the activities of the militants in the Niger Delta region, we are down to 1.2 to 1.4 million per barrels a day.
“We have lost about one third of production capacity. “Combine all these together we are heading for recession especially when there is no reserve to cushion the effects.”
Besides, the minister said the nation’s economy was driven by consumption and not by investment or production.
He therefore appealed to Nigerians to curb their appetite particularly for foreign goods and patronise made-in-Nigeria products.
He said that government on its part would continue to provide incentives to encourage manufacturers and ensure that the cost of doing business is competitive. Mohammed noted that the NBC report was not all gloomy as the nation recorded growth in agriculture and in the solid minerals sectors.
“Even in the face of the deficit, we made growth in agriculture which records 4.5 per cent growth and solid minerals which records 3.9 per cent growth. “On the good side again is that we can see in agriculture that we have surplus in agriculture produce and what is of concern to us is how to mop up this.
“The report also indicates that in the area of investments, we are higher even than what it was in 2010,” he said.
The minister explained that the positive side of the report was an indication that the policies and programmes of the government on diversification of the economy were yielding fruits. He assured that government would continue to encourage agriculture and ensure it purchased and stored the excess produce by farmers.
Mohammed said that the approval by the Federal Executive Council for extension of contract for e-wallet programme, would allow farmers easy access to fertilisers and seeds at subsidised rate. He explained that inflation being experienced in the country is “cost pushed inflation” but not in a situation where too much money is chasing few goods.
“Cost pushed inflation usually occurs when the cost of doing business increases,” Mohammed said, adding “government is focused and working hard to reposition the economy better.”
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Honesty in which regards sir that
ReplyDelete1. You promised to give unemployed Nigerians stipends and twisted d statement.
2. That you promised to publish the names of looters and that has turned out to be a ghost story.
3. That the APC government kicked against fuel subsidy in 2012 only to introduce it to us in even harsher terms.
4. That our budget was missing, found and now the subject of many adjectives like padding, inserting, tampering etc.
These are just a tip of the iceberg sir. Honesty in what aspect are you referring to sir.
Shameless old liar!
ReplyDeleteHonesty? When u promised to make $1=#1 but a dollar is #410. Ur as clueless as ur name. U better chin up. confused govt.
ReplyDeleteLook @ his face, I really feel like smacking dat ugly face of his so hard 2 bring d idiot back 2 his senses, oloriburuku.
ReplyDeleteHonesty ke! When you got or wanted to get milluons of naira from NBC for five people including you for a jamboree in China? Honesty Oshi! Baba liar! Shamess Old fool.
ReplyDeleteDis man is vry toshiless and conjabuted!!!
ReplyDeletePlease attack the message not the personality of the messenger. Are his reason not genuine. Think what would have happened supposing we continued with corrupt and lavished PDP as constituted last time.
ReplyDeleteThis is a shamekess explanation. I know that Buhari in his own understanding means well for Nigerians but the government of the day especially Lai Mohammed should first apologise to Nigerians for the lies and half baked truth he sold to Nigerans during the elections and also personally apologise to ex president Jonathan. I am surprised that Lai mohammed is just realising that oil price is falling and production dwindling and the economy is dependent on oil. I watched Jonathan tirelessly trying to explain this to Nigerians but his explanations were met with crude response from the likes of Lai Mohammed. Nigerians know better now and will reject in the future politicians that dwell on peddling lies, making false promises, indulge in over simplification of complex issues such as the economy, security, diversity of this country and selling half baked truth to tge uneducated masses. We feel insulted and angered by cheap propaganda that blames the past government for the current woes of the country. I glad that Lai Mohammed is now coming to the realisation of why the economy is receeding. We are patriotic Nigerians who are ready to support our president and the current government if they are honest and mature in their approach to run the affairs of this country. Let the government hence forth stop every divisive and polarising propaganda. Most of us are irritated and wearied by lack of understanding displayed by polutixal propagandist is selling cheap lies.
DeleteIt is easy to criticise than act when the chips are down. I am sure that those of you criticising here can hardly manage your family successfully. Search your conscience and be objective.
ReplyDeleteIt is easy to criticise than act when the chips are down. I am sure that those of you criticising here can hardly manage your family successfully. Search your conscience and be objective.
ReplyDeleteOne thing u know is pmb is honest.while the one thing we know is nigerians'are dieing in hunger.tour most of the states and see wat is happening,i belive u wont come out to make such irrelevant statement.yes while pmv is being,alot are forced to bcome dishonest due to hunger and worse of all d skyrocketing prices of commoditties.Is only God we will look upto
ReplyDeleteYou mean to say dishonesty?
ReplyDeleteHonesty indeed!! Old thiefs and liers...keep deceiving urselves, u think u can fool Nigerians for ever!! God will pay u back!!
ReplyDeleteKey things that Nigerians both APC and PDP should note is that:
ReplyDelete*Ex president Jonathan was not decisive with looters. In fact he encouraged it by conspiracy of silence. He just like any other past head of state can not completely divorce himself from the looting of his era.
*Jonathan had one of the best technocrats ever assembled by any Nigerian government and they worked tirelessly but their efforts were cut short by blistering APC campaign. At least the prices of locally produced staple food remained stable and the economy actually grew and a lot of diversifixation and wealth creation schemes were initiated during Jonathan administration.
*There is nothing like Jonathan emptying the treasury as claimed by APC. Every government makes budget of the expected income and expenditure for at the beginning of the year. The budgeted money must be spent as planned for year else your budget has failed. The accounts meant for saving the country's money is the external reserve which is used to finance our international transactions for which the dwindling was caused by all Nigerians with our exotic appetite for foreign goods. We also have the excess crude oil account, the governors took the fedral govt to court for the money to be shared among the 3 tiers of govt. I do not see any other account or treasury that could have been looted by the past govt as claimed by APC.
*Indeed systematic looting has been going on since 1978 missing of 2.8 billion dollars. Corruption in Nigera has mostly been perpetrated by those in govt especially by civil servants and political appointees through illegal levies, inflation of contracts, misappropriation and diversion of funds meant for govt operations and projects. This explains why some civil servant are stinkingly rich.
*Buhari has corrupted his anti corruption War by harbouring PDP looters and others who crossed carpet to his govt. He has also fought a lop sided corruption war by being selective in his arrests and give flimsy reasons for sparing the big toes and not waging an all inclusive war against corruption.
*The current approach to fighting corruption is a very big joke as systemic corruption within Fedral arms and agencies is still striving e.g. budget padding, paying bail fees to police officer, settlement of govt enforcement agencies. This systemic corruption is the biggest black hole in the corruption spectrum because it has the biggest negative impact on quality and cost of capital projects and the money stolen is huge and wide spread among civil servants in collaboration with contractors. PMB must evolve a systematic way of stopping and sanctioning systemic corruption.
*Jonathan's government is not the most corrupted govt ever in Nigeria as widely believed, however this is the first time an incumbent govt has deeply probed the previous govt indepthly. If PMB will be courageous and honest enough to probe Obasanjo, Babangida and Abdulsalam Nigerians will discover that President Jonathan was a saint. I feel that there is a regional and tribal gang up to rubbish Jonathan just because he is from minority tribe. His offences are not new and neither the most grevious among past presidents in this country. The allegation of corruption holds for all the past heads of state since 1977.
* The economic recession is not as a result of spike in corruption during Jonathan's govt, rather it is the cumulative effect corruption aver the years since 1977, lack of economic diversification by past govts, dwindling fortunes from oil production and price, very low non oil exports and high imports.
*All hands should be on deck to support PMB to succeed else when the ship hits the rock, we all will drown.
*PMB should have listening ear and drop all divisive and vindictive tendencies so that he can harness the rich human resources in - country to turn things around. The credit will still go to him if he crosses party, religious and regional divides to appoint the best brains for the job.