The All Progressives Congress (APC) has assured Nigerians that the nation would soon exit the current wave of recession.
The party also assured that the federal government would always mobilise all legitimate assets to ensure the safety and security of all Nigerians.
The secretary of the APC Caretaker Committee, Sen. John James Akpanudoedehe, in a Christmas message on Thursday said Nigeria went into recession again largely due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the nation.
“In our festivities, we must all stay safe by adhering to official public health directives by avoiding non-essential trips, large gatherings, using facemasks and washing hands regularly to halt the spread of the virus.
“As every country affected by the economic slowdown caused largely by the severity of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Nigeria is poised to exit the current recession within a short time, as several measures lined up by the Federal Government shows.
“It is worthy of note that the decline in the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) came after 12 consecutive quarters of positive growth.
“From the Chibok, Dapchi to Kankara students abductions and other recorded security incidents in the country, the President Muhammadu Buhari government has never lacked the capacity and clear intent to check and contain such incidence when they arise,” the party said.
The Breakdown
The data released by the National Bureau of Statistics in November confirmed the country slipping its second recession in barely 5 years.
The average growth in 2020 according to NBS data is 2.62% while oil sector recorded a deeper contraction of -13.89% as domestic oil production fell to a 4-year low of 1.67mbpd.
Of the 46 activities tracked by the NBS, 18 recorded positive growth compared to 13 activities in Q2’20, courtesy the gradual relaxation of the lockdown introduced as measure to curb the spread of COVID-19.
FG’s plan to exit recession
While some economic experts said the recession may linger longer than expected, the Finance minister, Zainab Ahmed expressed optimism that the government’s fiscal, real sector and monetary interventions will help the country out of recession
This is even as the House of Representatives said that the 2021 budget lacked the capacity to take the country out of the current recession.
While speaking at the 26th Nigerian Economic Summit Mrs Ahmed said Nigeria would exit the cur- rent recession either in the fourth quarter of this year or by the first quarter of 2021.
“Nigeria is not alone in this, but I will say that Nigeria has outperformed other economies in terms of the record of a negative growth.”
“While the economy entered into recession in the third quarter, the trend of the growth suggests that this will be a short-lived recession, and indeed by the fourth or, at worst, the first quarter of 2021, the country will exit recession.
“Our expectation of a quick exit, which will be historically fast, is anchored on the several complementary fiscal, real sector and monetary interventions that have been proactively introduced by government to forestall a far worse decline of the economy and alleviate the negative consequences of the pandemic.”
