Nationwide outrage as Buhari laments, finally surrenders to militants on economy

The Federal Government of Nigeria said on Monday that vandalism and sabotage of critical oil and gas installations in the Niger Delta were the immediate causes of the persistence of the recession in the third quarter.
The National Economic Management Team (NEMT), headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said this in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters, Adeyemi Dipeolu. The statement was made available to State House reporters by Osinbajo's spokesman, Laolu Akande.

The economic management team also identified what it called continued out-sized influence of the oil and gas sector on the rest of the economy as a remote cause.

It however, said efforts towards resolving the Niger Delta crisis were ongoing as the government had opened several channels of communication with all relevant groups in the region.  

The economic management team admitted the non-oil economy posted a very slight growth.
The team assured that urgent fiscal and monetary measures were "certainly in the offing" in lieu of the persistence of the recession in the third quarter.

It expressed optimism that the measures, including those targeting manufacturing, would spur the economy "back to overall positive territory."

It said though the overall economy was still in recession, the third quarter GDP figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics revealed a consistent growth in agriculture and solid mineral sectors.

The economic management team said this indicated the success of the economic policies of President Muhammadu Buhari's administration.

"There are however some green shoots of economic recovery beginning to emerge. To start with, ongoing consultations to bring lasting peace to the Niger Delta have enabled an increase in oil and gas production which, if sustained at current prices, will bring a measure of relief to the economy. Other key sectors of the economy showed encouraging signs of improvement.
"Similarly, while inflation is still high at 18.3% on a year-on-year basis it has begun to level out on a month-on-month basis and should enable the deployment of more policy tools to support growth and employment. Indeed, growth of headline inflation slowed down appreciably from 13.8% in May to as low as 1.70% in September.

"The ratio of investment to GDP also showed a notable improvement rising by 7.6% in the third quarter of 2016 as compared to a contraction of -7.4% in the fourth quarter of 2015.