Nigerias Economic Recession will End this Year - FG

The Federal Govern­ment has declared that the current eco­nomic recession in the country will end this year.
The cheering news was broken on Wednesday to State House correspondents by the Minister of Budget and Nation­al Planning, Udoma Udo Udo­ma, after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by Acting President Yemi Osi­nbajo.
Udoma had during the meeting briefed the FEC on the recent Third Quarter Report on the economy released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which showed margin­al improvements in some sec­tors, especially agriculture.

He said that the NBS report had gingered the cabinet mem­bers to put in more efforts to­wards getting the country out of recession before the end of the year.
The minister explained that this was part of the reasons the cabinet is eager to have the 2017 Budget passed by the National Assembly – with an intention to make the economy more diver­sified and competitive.
Udoma said: “The fourth quarter of the economy contract­ed by 1.3%, which is a lower lev­el of contraction than the pre­vious year and which indicates that we are already turning and we are beginning to recover, even though we are still in recession.
“And the overall result was better than many people pro­jected. The IMF report had thought the GDP for 2016 was going to be -1.8% and it turned out -1.5%, so that’s better than expected but we are not out of the woods yet.
“It is encouraging but we have to continue to do more to make sure that we get the econo­my out of the recession this year.
“So, we are encouraged but we are even more energised to put in more efforts in agricul­ture, which is doing very well, to do even better and to put in more efforts in solid minerals”.
He stressed that “we are de­termined to get the economy out of the recession before the end of this year, and the 2017 Budget is structured to do just that. That is why we are anxious to get the budget passed so that we can be­gin the implementation and be­gin to take all the steps we need to get the economy out of reces­sion.”
On long-term plans for the economy, in like three or four years, the Minister explained that “we want to do two broad things; one is to restore oil pro­duction and harvest what we can get from that sector but diversify by making the economy compet­itive so we would grow our agri­culture and manufacturing.
“We will have value added in Nigeria and move from a con­suming to producing nation, that is the thrust. We believe we have the will and determination to achieve it”.
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Mo­hammed Bello, announced the FEC’s approval of a $470 mil­lion contract for the water supply project in Abuja. It will be fund­ed by the China-Nexim Bank and aims to expand water sup­ply in the FCT.
While the Greater Abu­ja Water Project will gulp the $470 million, another contract of N186 million was approved for the supply of 1,000 tonnes of alum for water treatment by an indigenous firm.
A third contract also ap­proved is to extend mainte­nance of Wupa Water Treat­ment Plant in Abuja by a period of 24 months, which will include its maintenance, training and retraining of staff while creat­ing additional employment for Nigerian professionals and ar­tisans.
Meanwhile, Osinbajo, who clocked 60 years yesterday, was treated to a ‘Happy Birthday’ song by ministers as soon as he stepped in for the FEC meeting.
After cutting the birthday cake, Osinbajo, in a brief chat with journalists, said: “Frankly speaking, there is no difference between today and yesterday. It is really a work of grace.”
“It is worth thanking God that one is 60 and one is in good health and that one is able to serve one’s country. I am hap­py and fulfilled. I am thankful to God”.