Nigerian governors have pledged to work with the federal government, especially in the area of agriculture to reverse the effects of the current economic recession.
This is part of the outcome of a meeting of the governors in the council chambers at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, with the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo presiding.
The Council in its last meeting on September 22 approved President Muhammadu Buhari’s strategies to pull the economy out of recession.
At the meeting, ministers and governors also debriefed the Finance Minister, Mrs Kemi Adeosun and the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr Udoma Udo Udoma as well as the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele on the strategies to take the country out of the woods.
The governors who blamed the dwindling power supply in the country on gas pipeline vandalism, also commended the federal government on the plan to diversify energy sources through wind, and solar.
Economic Recession
The oil-rich nation’s economy officially slipped into recession in the second quarter of 2016, with a report of the National Bureau of Statistics showing that the economy contracted by 2.06% in that quarter.
The Naira had become weak, exchanging for over 480 Naira to a dollar in the parallel market.
Despite the recession, a report of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has affirmed Nigeria as the biggest economy in Africa.
Nigeria was reported to have lost its spot as Africa’s biggest economy to South Africa in August 2016, following the recalculation of the country’s Gross Domestic Product.
But the IMF’s World Economic Outlook for October 2016, puts South Africa’s GDP at 280.36 billion Dollars, from 314.73 billion Dollars in 2015.
Meanwhile, latest estimates from the IMF put Nigeria’s GDP at 415.08 billion Dollars, from 493.83 billion Dollars at the end of 2015.
