The nation’s dwindling economy, which the government has confirmed is
technically in recession, is currently affecting other African
countries. President of Benin Republic, Patrice Talon, confirmed the
situation yesterday when he visited President Muhammadu Buhari at the
Presidential Villa, Abuja. Attacks on oil and gas installations by
militants in the oil-rich Niger Delta have affected gas supply to
turbines, forcing a sharp drop in power to about 3,485 megawatts.
With the current situation, Nigeria is unable to supply power to its
neighbouring countries that depend on her before now. Nigeria,
considered as giant of Africa, supplies electricity and gas to
neighbouring countries, which include Benin Republic and Ghana.
Addressing State House Correspondents at a joint press conference with
Buhari after a closed-door meeting, President Talon explained that his
people and his country were currently being affected by the downturn in
the Nigerian economy. He said: “As Nigeria is not using its potential,
it is making other West African countries suffer.
The crisis hitting Nigeria is what is hitting us. This is an
opportunity for us to go back and develop other sectors.” The Beninoise
President, who described Nigeria as the engine room of West Africa,
urged the Federal Government to explore its non-oil sectors in order to
increase the country’s revenue profile being reduced by falling oil
prices in the international market. He said Nigeria remained a Big
Brother in Africa and needed not to rely for too long on crude oil
revenue to the detriment of other sectors.
While disclosing that the discussions at the closeddoor meeting
bordered on security and economy, Talon said that his country was
looking forward to reactivate the existing bilateral relationship 
between
Benin and Nigeria, especially in the areas of trade relations, economy,
energy development and education. According to him, his country will
work with Nigeria to end the current illegal trade going on between the
two countries and make what is going on pass through legal processes.
between
Benin and Nigeria, especially in the areas of trade relations, economy,
energy development and education. According to him, his country will
work with Nigeria to end the current illegal trade going on between the
two countries and make what is going on pass through legal processes.
He said: “There is illegal trade between the two countries, which is
creating difficulties between the two countries. We looked at the
possibility of re-energizing the trade between the two countries so that
illegal trade is discouraged.”
He invited Buhari to visit Benin Republic towards enhancing the
cooperation between the two countries. While thanking Talon for the
visit to Nigeria, Buhari noted that the Republic of Benin has always
supported efforts by the Lake Chad Basin Commission to address
insurgency and other trans-border crimes in the sub-region. President
Talon said that Nigeria was committed to making the West Africa gas
pipeline more efficient.
Buhari also promised Nigeria’s continued support for Benin,
particularly in the area of energy development. Also, Buhari hosted the
President of Togo, Faure Nasimbi, who paid him courtesy visit after
inspecting a refinery project in Lagos State. Buhari told the Togolese
leader that because Nigeria is facing power supply problem, her
neighbour, Benin Republic, was also facing a similar issue.
He said: “If you will recall, I mentioned to the President of Benin
that we have power problem. We have power problem and Benin has power
problem because they depend on us and we are working very hard to
stabilise the situation. The resources are available, the technology is
available, and we are trying to stabilise the situation.” According to
the president, “if we improve power which means our productivity can be
competitive and God willing we are going to achieve our objectives.”
Both leaders also held a closed-door session where they discussed the
crisis in South Sudan and Burundi and how the African Union could
assist in ending them during its next meeting.
The Togolese President, in his remarks, said he had visited Lagos
State to inspect the refinery project being built by Aliko Dangote. “I’m
impressed by the investment of Dangote because we have been talking of
socio-economic integration and promoting trade among African countries
“If you want to promote trade, you have investors that are very
competitive and will contribute to reduce import from non-Af rican
countries,” he noted. According to Faure, “I was told the gas pipeline
that will be built would be buried under the sea.
It means if you want to promote blue economy, our ocean needs to be
very safe. We need security.” He said he invited President Buhari to
attend the maritime summit on October 15 that will be held in Togo this
year. Meanwhile, the Economic Management Team (EMT) of the Buhari
administration yesterday held crucial talks with experts at the
presidential villa with the view to finding solutions to the nation’s
dwindling economy. The meeting, which was presided over by Vice-
President Yemi Osinbajo, deliberated on policies that could be adopted
in the short term to reflate the economy.
A statement after the meeting by the Senior Special Assistant on
Media and Publicity to the Vice President, Laolu Akande, said experts
made suggestions on how best to reflate the economy, bring it out of
recession and promptly restore growth topped the agenda. During the
meeting, Osinbajo expressed Buhari’s determination to continuously
consider and adopt policies that would boost business, increase
employment and provide succour to the poor and disadvantaged.
According to him, “We will continue to engage with experts and other
stakeholders so that we can measure progress of the economic policies
that have been put in place.
“The challenges are many, but the opportunities are much greater, we
are clearly on the path to building an economy that will create jobs and
ensure inclusive growth.” Akande said the EMT meets weekly and also
holds special consultations with members of the private sector and
economic experts from time to time. Experts who attended the four-hour
long special meeting were Mr. Bismarck Rewane, Mr. Bode Augusto, Prof.
Akpan Ekpo, Dr. Ayo Teriba and Prof. Badayi Sani. He said other issues
discussed at the consultative forum include the review of the new
foreign exchange regime and its effect on the economy, as well as the
draft Medium Term Economic Framework for 2017-2019.
The EMT members and the experts made a plethora of suggestions on how
to reflate the economy, especially through massive infrastructural
spending with active private sector participation, ensure propeople
economic policies; increase the supply of dollars to the forex market,
among other issues. Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator
Udoma Udo Udoma, in his remark, said: “We’ve just finished a special
meeting of the economic management team, as you know; we are in the
middle of consultations to develop the new mid-term economic framework,
MTEF.”
He disclosed that the meeting is “part of a comprehensive
consultation process that we are embarking on to make sure that we reach
out to a wide spectrum of Nigerians to get a feedback in terms of how
best to make sure that we come out of this recession.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment