President Muhammadu Buhari broken silence on the economy of Nigeria that just slided into recession, second time in his administration.
According to Buhari, the severity of coronavirus pandemic slided the country into recession.
Buhari made this remark on Monday in Abuja at the .26th Nigerian Economic Summit with the theme: “Building Partnerships for Resilience’’.
The summit was jointly organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and the Federal Government through the FedewFe Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
Buhari, who was represented at the summit by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo,.
Buharii said: .“We can all recall that during the lockdown, farming did not take place, businesses were closed; schools were closed as were hotels and restaurants.
“Also, airlines stopped flying, while inter-state commerce was disrupted.
“The economy only began to recover when these activities resumed and if we are able to sustain the nearly three percentage point increase from the second quarter decline of minus 6.1 per cent, the performance in the fourth quarter could take us into positive territory,’’ he said.
Acccording to the President the swift method out of the current recession was to hasten the implementation of the ESP.
“Of course, an improvement in global economic conditions, including the restoration of global supply chains and resumption of exports and remittances, should enable a V-shaped recovery.
“We expect, in the same spirit of partnership, that the private sector will complement these efforts by making maximum use of the provisions of the ESP and the Finance Bill when it is passed by the National Assembly and also by retaining and creating jobs so as to keep people at work.
“In a similar spirit of partnership, private sector enterprises should also pay their due taxes,’’ he added
