The Director General of the National
Orientation Agency, Mr. Garba Abari, has expressed delight that Nigerians have
been left with no option but to look inwards because of the economic recession.
Abari said, “Happily, the country is
broke, if we had lived a life of falsehood always guided by our crass appetite
for consumption and lack of productivity because there was free money, now we
are being confronted with the reality.”
Abari who stated this in an
interview with Punch in Abuja, explained that the fall in oil prices and the
disappearance of what he referred to as “free money” will engender a home-grown
response to the nation’s economic problems.
He said Nigeria’s economic problem
was not peculiar as other oil producing nations like Venezuela were also taking
a hit but that Nigeria under the Buhari-led administration was handling it
better.
“It is a global economic challenge
and every country is being affected one way or another. Venezuela is an oil
producing country like Nigeria; perhaps in terms of production quota in OPEC,
it may even be producing higher than Nigeria. It is not even as populous as
Nigeria is and you have seen what has become of it.
“Oil that used to be the source of
money is no longer bringing in the money. We are beginning to show a sign that
we are positively responding to the reality.”
He explained that the contribution
of agriculture to the GDP was negligible in the last few years but that it had
improved considerably under the current administration due to proactive
measures.
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