Oscarline Onwuemenyi
22 April 2017, Sweetcrude, Abuja – President Muhammadu Buhari has said that Nigeria is coming out of recession, even as he urged Nigerians to be patient with his administration.
A statement from the Presidency noted that President Buhari stated this while making remarks at the inauguration of the North-West zone of the National Committee of Buhari Support Group in Kano on Thursday.
The president, who was represented by the Senate Leader, Senator Ahmad Lawan noted that his administration’s efforts to save the economy from recession had taken longer because it needed to have a comprehensive policy response to the economic challenges faced by the country.
He said, “As a country, we need to re-strategise, but the planning period is always very difficult in any organisation or nation.
“Already, as you can see, the country is coming out of economic recession, soon the prices of commodities will go down, and generally things will take a good shape.
”We call on Nigerians to be patient and not to lose hope. I urge us to be prayerful and by God’s grace we shall get better and stronger as a nation,” he added.
The United Kingdom-based financial data analysis firm, World Economics, said two days ago that the Nigerian economy is out of recession and growing strong.
The organisation, which is dedicated to producing analysis, insight and data relating to questions of importance in understanding the world economy, said this development was reflected in the growth of its April Sales Managers’ Index, SMI, for Nigeria, which rose to 58.5 per cent from 56.7 per cent in March.
According to a report on its website, the organisation said: “April Sales Managers’ Index, SMI, data suggests that the Nigerian economy is continuing to grow out of the recession which saw 10 months of consecutive contraction in 2016.
“The Market Growth Index grew to 58.5 in April as the monthly Sales Growth Index ticked up to 56.7, its highest value since 2015 and representative of rapid growth. Price inflation for April, which is tracked by the Prices Charged Index, remained high at 58.7 – indicative of high levels of inflation. A slowing trend has, however, developed for the past nine months.”