The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has assured Nigerians that the country is in good hands and that the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics is no cause for alarm.
Speaking on Friday, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said: “What I can assure you is that we are on top of the situation and we are confident that the second half of the year will be better than the previous.
“Some of the things that impacted on this first two quarters were the acute fall in the price of crude oil.”
The Information minister further added that the information made public was not new to the government as it had been making plans and policies in order to cushion the effect of what was termed recession.
He further urged Nigerians to see the Buhari-led administration for what it is as he noted that Buhari has been open with the citizens of the nation.
He said: “One thing we cannot take away from this government is that it is open, honest and will not keep Nigerians in the dark.
“About a month ago, the Minister of Finance actually told all of us that we are already technically in recession.
“Recession is not an event, it is a process. We knew more than five years ago that the country is heading towards recession because the structure of our economy is faulty.
“Faulty in the sense that for many years we have relied in one product, crude oil.”