Nigerians were destined for hardship long before President Bola Tinubu, assumed power on May 29, 2023, says the presidency, noting that it’s already taking measures to address the challenges brought about by the bold reforms introduced by his government in all sectors of the economy.
“The truth is that the new policies alone are not solely responsible for the economic problems we are facing today,” said the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy Bayo Onanuga.
“We were destined for the tough and rough patch, where we are today because of the prevailing conditions before Tinubu took over on May 29.”
Onanuga stated this in a statement on Saturday in Abuja. ‘”As of June 2023, the budget deficit was N10.8 trillion. Actual debt service was 98.95 per cent of revenue, far higher than the projected 59.37 per cent. Inflow into the country’s foreign reserve came in trickles.
’And so bad was the state of affairs that Nigeria could not remit about $800 million fund of foreign airlines,” the presidential aide stressed.
He added, “JP Morgan exposed our near insolvency by claiming in a report that our net foreign reserve was just about $3.7 billion, not the $33 billion plus flaunted by Emefiele’s CBN.
President Tinubu, who promised during the campaign to take hard and difficult decisions, moved to tackle the economic problems from day one, by first dispensing with the wasteful fuel subsidy that was billed to consume about N7trillion this year, five times more than what was provisioned for capital spending.” He said Mr Tinubu had never shied away from acknowledging the temporary pains triggered by the reforms, stressing that proactive measures would continue to be taken.
Mr Onanuga pointed out that many of these measures “are already being taken and in the New Year, we expect the silver linings, that are at present understated, to blossom into rays of sunshine to be experienced by all Nigerians,” citing the removal of fuel subsidy and the move to merge foreign exchange rates, “two headline reforms introduced by the Tinubu administration since late May.”
“(It’s caused by) problems such as high fuel prices and the depreciation of the Naira, two monstrosities which combined to cause a general spike in costs of services and goods,” the presidential aide explained. Mr Onanuga also mentioned that the latest NBS report put Nigeria’s inflation at 26.7 per cent in September, which rose to 28.2 per cent in November from 27.33 per cent in October, adding that food inflation remained untamed.
However, he said the situation was taking a positive turn with the NBS report of the third quarter of 2023. He added that the president was focused on turning the economy round for growth, development and prosperity. “In its third quarter report for the year, the NBS reported that GDP grew by 2.54 per cent. In a similar period in 2022, GDP recorded a growth of 2.25 per cent. To demonstrate that the sun may be shining on us again, the 2.54 per cent GDP growth recorded in Q3 was also higher than the 2.51 per cent recorded in Q2.
‘’The service sector, made up of information and communication, financial and insurance, was responsible for the growth witnessed in Q3. It had a 3.99 per cent growth, contributing 52.7 per cent of the aggregate GDP. The agriculture sector declined from 1.34 per cent growth in Q2 to 1.3 per cent in Q3. “Growth was also recorded in construction and real estate, metal ores (69.76 per cent), coal mining (58.03 per cent), chemical and pharmaceutical products (6.77 per cent), cement (4.2 per cent) and construction (3.89 per cent),” Mr Onanuga stated.
The presidential aide mentioned that oil reported a negative growth of 0.85 per cent, a major improvement from the negative 22.67 per cent recorded during the same period last year, pointing out that it was 13.43 per cent in Q2 of 2022.
“The improvement in the oil sector and its contribution to GDP has been attributed to the improvement in the security of oil infrastructure and operations, leading to increased production,” Mr Onanuga explained.
He said there was a big jump in trade volume from N12.16 trillion in Q2 to N18.8 trillion, adding that trade volume in Q2 of 2022 was N12.28 trillion. “We also recorded a trade surplus of N1.89 trillion in Q3, an increase from the N708.8 billion in Q2 2023. In Q3 in 2022, we recorded trade deficit of N409.39 billion,” the president’s spokesman noted. Mr Onanuga said, “Value of exports in the third quarter was N10.35 trillion, far higher by 60.78 per cent than the N6.44 trillion posted in Q2 2023. “Crude oil dominated the export, accounting for 82.5 per cent, a confirmation that our country is pumping out more oil for export unlike the previous years.” [NAN]
