Nigeria’s economy has continued to be resilient and maintains an upward trajectory, despite the disruptions in the global economy, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said on Friday.
Buhari, while inaugurating an 11-man Presidential Committee on the National Economy in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, said the loss of substantial volumes of oil, the mainstay of the economy, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, had brought negative impacts on the economy of Africa’s most populous country.
“Starting with COVID-19 and now the conflict in Ukraine, the past three years have been turbulent ones for the global economy. Global interdependence has become more apparent as we have had to deal with volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity,” the Nigerian leader said.
He said while the global economy was largely affected by challenges which include lockdowns as COVID-19 raged — with disruptions to supply chains around the world and sharp fluctuations in prices, the Nigerian economy continued to show resilience and growth, despite the adverse effects of rising interest rates, a stronger U.S. dollar and higher inflation across the world.
Buhari charged the national economic committee to look inward in addressing the issues peculiar to Nigeria.
Last month, Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest oil producers, recorded a decline in the production of crude oil, with an estimation that the country produced less than 1 million barrels per day, Buhari said. This is a figure far less than the target of 1.88 million barrels per day in the president’s 2022 national budget speech in October 2021.
He attributed the fall in oil production to be “essentially due to economic sabotage.”
The newly inaugurated economic committee headed by Buhari will, according to the president, bring together all policymakers responsible for the economy to share a common understanding and approach toward solving the economic challenges swiftly and efficiently.
