The Interview Editors
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the sudden crash in crude oil prices by 45 per cent heightens the need for Nigeria to promote growth in other sectors of its economy.
Buhari stated that the development, occasioned by the outbreak of Coronavirus, would seriously affect the ability of the federal government to deliver planned infrastructure, especially with the impact on oil revenue.
The President spoke on Wednesday night at the Presidential Villa during a dinner he hosted for participants of the “Going for Growth 2.0 Roundtable.”
The roundtable, which was held earlier same day, was organised by the Central Bank of Nigeria in collaboration with the private sector to discuss challenges of the Nigerian economy and proffer solutions.
Buhari said, “The onset of the corona virus in December 2019, which has spread to over 100 countries is having a significant impact on global growth, as well as commodity prices such as crude oil, which has dropped by over 45 per cent since January 2020.
“These external challenges have only served to reinforce the importance of ensuring that Nigeria is self-sufficient in the production of strategic goods.
“They have also highlighted the fact that we need to continue to implement measures that would enable growth in other sectors of our economy and reduce our dependence on earnings from crude oil.
“For these objectives to be achieved, the vital role of the Nigerian private sector cannot be disputed or over-emphasised.”
The President stated that his administration had long taken the diversification of the economy as a policy it must implement as a long-term solution to crude oil market volatility.
He added, “A key focus of this administration has been diversification of the Nigerian economy and improving Nigeria’s level of self-sufficiency in food production.
“These measures will help support faster economic growth, create employment opportunities for our teeming youths, and reduce our import bill.”
He called on the private sector to play a supportive role in achieving the self-sufficiency objective, while the government too would do everything within means to promote the private sector.
“This government remains steadfast in seeking to promote growth of the Nigerian economy, and by extension the growth of the Nigerian private sector.
“I am glad to note that following recent recession and supported by growth enhancing fiscal and monetary policy measures, GDP growth has remained in positive territory for the past 11 quarters.
“The positive growth has been driven by grice in key sectors of our economy such as agriculture, industry, oil and gas, as well as ICT”, the President said.
CBN’s Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, told the session that the roundtable was a follow-up to the first one held in Lagos in June, which led to the bank increasing credit to the real sector by N1.9trn.
Emefiele explained that the second roundtable was timely, coming amid the coronavirus pandemic and the crude oil price crash.
He spoke further, “Following the success of the 1st roundtable session, we decided to convene the 2nd session today, to further enhance your objective of driving economic growth. The second session is timely considering the external challenges countries across the world are facing, following the outbreak of the corona virus in December 2019.
“The coronavirus has affected global supply chains in key markets and has resulted in significant reductions in the demand for goods and services by consumers. More importantly, the impact of the corona virus has led to a 45 per cent decrease in the price of crude oil since the beginning of the year. It is expected that global growth would also drop in 2020.
“Given our dependence on crude oil for close to 80 per cent of our export earnings and 50 per cent of government expenditures, the drop affects the government’s ability to meet its capital and infrastructure funding objectives.
“The roundtable was therefore an opportunity for stakeholders in the public and private sectors to share ideas on ways to strengthen our buffers and promote greater economic growth.”
The CBN governor informed Buhari that in the days ahead, the recommendations of the roundtable would be forwarded to his office.
