Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, has said it will be difficult to specify when Nigeria will come out recession.
The minister said this when he appeared before the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), yesterday, to brief them on the National Economic team’s plans to take the country out of recession.
“All I can say is that Nigeria will come out of recession this year, but I can’t say the exact period,” the minister said.
In his welcome remarks, APC National chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, pointed out that the idea behind the meeting was to update members of the national leadership on the economic situation of the country and to know, specifically, when the country will come out of recession.
“His presentation to us is fundamental as it is the planning background. It is the basis on which the rebuilding, restructuring and strengthening of this country is going to be based. The recovery plan, getting out of our present economic situation and recession, which we anchor our fight against corruption, insecurity and rehabilitation of the economy, is going to be derived from those imperatives.”
Earlier, Senator Udoma said the 2017-2020 Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) and the 2017 national budget are based on the manifesto of the APC and campaign promises made by President Muhammadu Buhari during the 2015 elections.
Citing high insecurity, massive corruption, unemployment, poor infrastructure, import dependent economy and other structural weaknesses, the minister stated that the President Buhari-led administration inherited an economy that was in a very bad shape.