Nigerian Economy Already On Its Way Out of Recession – Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has stated that the Nigerian economy was already on its way to recovery from its second recession in five years.

Naija News reports that Nigeria on Saturday, November 21, officially went into recession for the second time under President Muhammadu Buhari‘s administration, but this time, the worst since 1987.

Figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reveal that Nigeria is officially in a recession, with the West African country recording a contraction of 3.62 percent in the third quarter of 2020.

This online news platform understands that the development shows that this is the second consecutive quarterly GDP decline since Nigeria’s 2016 recession. The cumulative GDP for the first nine months of 2020, therefore, stood at -2.48 percent.

But speaking on Sunday on a television programme, Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to Osinbajo, said the economy is already on its path to recovery despite predictions by critics.

Akande said, “Let me say very clearly that if you look at the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) figures themselves, there is a clear indication of restoration. For instance, in Q2, the contraction was -6.1 but in Q3 which figures were just released, the contraction is -3. So, clearly, the Nigerian economy is on a rebound.

“To the question of when we will get out of this situation, the figures bear the truth that the Nigerian economy is on its way to recovery. This is going to be mainly because of the Economic Sustainability Plan that the President had put in place and asked the Vice-President to share its development and implementation.

“The economy is rebounding and this is mainly because of the preemptive action that the Buhari administration had taken even before now to ensure that the situation doesn’t get worse. We have the confidence that the Nigerian economy will bounce back very promptly.”