Osinbajo declares Recession will end Soon

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has blamed the shrinking economy on disruptions caused by pipeline vandalism and the resultant shortfall in national revenues, Punch reports.

According to the Vice President, the economic recession bedeviling Nigeria will only be for a short time and not last until 2020 as opined by Olisa Emeka Agbakoba (SAN).

He made the declaration in Ede, Osun State, during the eighth convocation ceremony of the Redeemer’s University, Osinbajo, reiterated that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was working round the clock to revive the ailing economy

“As far as we are concerned and so far as all of us who are working seriously hard are concerned, the recession must be short-lived,” Prof Osinbajo said.

“The reason is that as of February last year, we were generating 5,000 megawatts of power and that was the highest ever in the history of this country and that same month the vandalism of the pipelines started. So, we lost 60 per cent of gas and 60 per cent of revenue.

“There is nowhere in the world, there is no economy in the world that can lose 60 per cent of its revenue and will not go into some sort of recession which is actually what has happened to us in this country.

“Once we are able to resolve these issues concerning pipeline vandalism and the diversification of the economy we are working towards, things will change for the better.”

He added that his belief in an upturn in fortunes is bolstered by the fact that the FG was working on the verge of getting in more foreign direct investments (FDI), particularly in the oil and gas sector.

“We are working towards regaining our products locally. We are investing more in refineries and private investors are coming into refineries as well. If we are able to do this, 70 per cent of what we import will not be imported again, hence our foreign reserves will be maintained and if it is maintained, our currency will improve.

“We have all it takes to be a great country. I am quite convinced that the problems we are seeing today will quickly disappear as long as we understand why we are where we are today.”

He ended his speech by advising the fresh graduates on the benefits of multitasking in an ICT era.