Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said on Saturday that Nigeria was gradually moving out of recession.
Mohammed, represented by the Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr Bayo Onanuga, made the assertion at the biennial convention of the Nigerian Guild of Editors in Lagos.
He said that going by a recent statement by the Central Bank Governor, the country would exit recession by the end of June.
“ There have been other pointers for the good news as well. For two consecutive months, the National Bureau of Statistics has also reported a fall in inflation rate.
“ The exchange rate is regaining some sanity.
“ As I said earlier, the worst appears to be over. We are clawing out of the woods of recession in weeks from now, “ the minister said.
Mohammed said that the Buhari administration and collective will of Nigerians had shamed doomsday prediction that our recession could worsen into a depression.
“ I hope, in our various media, we shall begin to focus more on the positive developments in our economy, the growth in agriculture and mineral development, since the NBS last year, let out the secret that the Nigerian economy recorded a negative growth in the first quarter of 2016, “ he said.
The minister said that recession was not peculiar to the country.
He said that the United States of America had experienced 47 recessions, some regressing into depressions.
“ Between 1980 and 2007 alone, the American economy experienced five recessions. The last one in 2007 was caused by the subprime mortgage crisis and led to the collapse of the US housing bubble,” he said.
Mohammed urged the media to stop the blame game and educate Nigerians on the efforts being made to end recession.
“ Informing the people that the government is working hard to end the
recession will go a long way to give hope to the people.
“After all, it is said that ”if you keep hope alive, it will keep you alive” the minister said. (NAN)
GA/MEMO