The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala yesterday stated that Nigeria is financially stable and has maintained sound attention to its responsibilities both on the local and international grounds, in-spite of the fluctuating revenues from the crude oil exports.
The Minister gave the assurance at a press conference in Abuja which witnessed a large press men and women, she stated that ; “Despite the dwindling revenue of the nation due to falling crude oil prices and decrease in output, the nation is not broke, as feared in some quarters”.
Fears have been allayed following the trip-up in the accruals to the federation account in recent months which may jeopardize the possible chances of implementing of the 2014 budget, but the Minister said that alternative plans were put in place to avert any threat to the budget.
In her exact words, she says as follows;
“Nigeria is a country that is dependent on one commodity (oil) and that commodity is dependent on how much the buyers want to buy. We had a yo-yo kind of expenditure pattern before 2003 but after that even when there was a fall in the price of crude from $140 to about $35 or $38 between 2003 and 2008, our economy remained stable because we had accumulated about $22 billion in the Excess Crude Account.
“It is the same thing now. We may have to cut down on some of our expenditure. We may have to mobilize more revenue; we have to look at the fiscal policy; we have to look at the monetary policy - all of these have to come together and we are looking at them right now in the Ministry of Finance.
Oil and nation’s economy
“I want to assure Nigerians that we are putting in place contingency plans so that our economy remains stable. Right now, we have fluctuations in the price of crude oil and when that happens, it means that the money that comes into the coffers is a little bit small. Does that mean that the country is broke? If we are not able to pay salaries to people or meet other obligations then we can say the country is broke but we have not got there. Nigeria is not broke”.
I hope Nigeria doesn't go broke, because it will pose much damage to the Nigerian populace, because they're surviving with little or nothing in the midst of plenty, and what will be their fate when there is nothing to hope on at all? It's not our prayers....
Photo credit by Vanguard news
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