The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has saidย the Buhari Administration is working and the results are showing inย the various sectors of the economy.
Loading ...The Minister stated this at the 4th Annual Conference of theย Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeriaย (ACSPN) in Kanoย on Wednesday, nothing that pulling Nigeria out ofย recession was not by accident.
“Taking Nigeria out of recession did not happen by accident. It is theย culmination of months of hard work by the Administration and fidelityย to its well-articulated economic policies, especially the Strategicย Implementation Economic Recovery (2016) and the Growth Plan (ERGP)ย that was launched on 5th April, 2017,” he said.
Alhaji Mohammed listed some of the ”incrementally-positive steps”ย that got Nigeria out of recession as including the reversal of theย consistent slowdown since 20014 to a level where the GDP finally grewย by 0.55% in the second quarter of 2017
”This positive growth is attributable to both the oil and non-oilย sectors of the economy. Growth in the oil sector, which has beenย negative since Q4 2015, was positive in Q2 2017. It rose by 1.64% asย compared to -15.60 in Q1 2017, an increase of up to 17 percentageย points.
”The non-oil sector grew by 0.45% in Q2 2017, a second successiveย quarterly growth after growing 0.72% in Q1 2017. In particular,ย improvement in the non-oil sector was driven principally by strongย growth in agriculture and solid mineralsย sector, and reversal in the previous contraction of the manufacturingย and construction sector. This shows that the government’s economicย diversification programme is working,” he said.
The Minister listed other positive developments as a fall in theย inflation rate from 18% to 16% as of July 2017; the rise inย exports, coupled with a decrease in imports, which brought theย countryโs trade balance to โฆ719.4 billion, up from โฆ671.3 billion;ย increase in capital inflow that brought the total value of capitalย imported into Nigeria in the second quarter of 2017 to $1,792.3ย million, representing a growth of 95.02 percent; increase in foreignย reserves to a 30-month high of $31.8 billion in July 2017; andย appreciation in exchange rate from N520/$ as at 20 February 2017 toย N362/$ as at 17th August 2017.
He also listed some of the various impactful programmes of theย Administration as including the National Home Grown School Feedingย Programme, which today feeds 3,065,000 pupils in 14 states of the Federationย pupils and has employed 36,000 Cooks across the country; the Conditionalย Cash Transfer that has seen about over 30,000 households benefit from theย N5,000 monthly stipend; the Government Enterprise and Empowermentย Programme under which about 120,000 people have benefited from theย cooperative loans; and the N-power that has employed 200,000 people.
He said the high food prices are being addressed with appropriateย monetary, fiscal and trade policies, as stated in the ERGP.
Alhaji Mohammed reiterated his earlier statement that the purveyors ofย hate speech, fake news and disinformation are working hard toย obliterate the glaring achievements of the Administration.
”To naysayers, these positive developments do not constitute news.ย That’s why they make up their own fake news, and engage inย disinformation and hate speech. They believe that by seeking toย overwhelm the polity with fake news, disinformation and hate speech,ย they can easily obliterate the glaring achievements of the Buhariย Administration. We must not allow them to dominate the media space,”ย he said
