The President Muhammadu Buhari administration on Thursday
admitted that 40 percent of Nigerians are poor.
NAN reports that Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, made the
declaration on Thursday.
She spoke to State House correspondents after the National
Economic Council (NEC) meeting anchored from the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Ahmed stated that Nigeria was in a very difficult time and
facing a very significant economic downturn that has not been seen in its
history.
The minister noted that global economy was also facing the
sharpest reversals since the great depression as it had both health and
economic consequences.
Ahmed noted that the coronavirus pandemic had caused the
collapse of oil prices.
“The impact has already started showing on the federation’s
revenues and on the foreign exchange earnings. Net oil and gas revenue and
influx to the federation account in the first quarter of 2020 amounted to
N940.91billion.
“This represented a shortfall of N125.52 billion or 31 per
cent of the prorated amount that is supposed to have been realised by the end
of that first quarter. 40 per cent of the population in Nigeria, today, is
classified as poor; the crisis will only multiply this misery.
“The economic growth in Nigeria, that is the GDP, could in
the worst case scenario, contract by as much as minus -8.94 per cent in 2020.
But in the best case, which is the case we are working on, it could be a
contraction of minus -4.4 per cent, if there is no fiscal stimulus.”
Ahmed said the Federal Government was committed to
supporting the financial viability of states.
This includes the suspension of payments in respect of
commitments and debts that have been secured with ISPOs by the states at the
federal levels.
“So, we have already implemented suspension of deductions of
a number of loans that have been taken by the states from April and also in
May. The Economic Sustainability Committee is responsible for providing overall
strategic vision, policy direction and general oversight of the
implementation.”
The minister pointed out that some of the measures to
mitigate the COVID-19 impact included the N500billion stimulus package
President Buhari approved.
She added that fund accommodates the increase in the social
register by one million households to 3.5million for cash transfer programme
and other palliatives.
Critics continue to criticise the cash transfer claim of the
government as many Nigerians are yet to receive bank alerts.
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