The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, has blamed the oil-sector as the major problem that has made it difficult for the federal government to lead the economy out of recession.
He said this on Thursday during a chat with newsmen in Abuja.
According to the Minister, the slump in global oil prices and the fall in Nigeria’s production capacity in the oil sector were responsible for the slow pace of economic growth in the country.
He, however, said that the federal government is already shifting grounds to the non-oil sector for solutions to the economic recession rocking the nation.
Udoma, while urging Nigerians to continue to believe in the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, maintained that the results of the efforts of the government at lifting the nation out of economic doldrums it found itself has begun to yield results.
“Right now we should have already been out of the oil sector. It is only the oil-sector that is dragging us down. So, we are shifting growth; we are shifting a lot of resources to the non-oil sector as part of the diversification effort of the administration.
“I urge Nigerians to continue to have hope, because we are working very hard. And already you can see the results of what we are doing. The GDP for the first quarter showed that the non-oil sector is growing at 0.72 percent,” he said.
On the issue of working closely with the state governments to ensure an accelerated exit out of the country the current economic crunch, Udoma said:
“We meet every month with the state governors at the National Economic Council (NEC).
“In fact, we are having a meeting today. And on each of the meetings, we review and align our policies. You may recall that in March last year we organized a retreat for all the governors on the economy. So, we work very closely with them.”
Comentarios