Abdullahi M. Gulloma
The Presidency said, last week, that the quarterly GDP figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which reveal a consistent growth in agriculture and solid mineral sectors, indicated success of the present administration’s economic policies.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity in the Office of the Vice President, Mr Laolu Akande, in Abuja.
The statement said that the overriding impact of the oil and gas sector, where vandalism and sabotage of critical installations negatively affected production output, exacerbates the nation’s economic recession, despite the contributions made by the agricultural sector.
The statement said ongoing efforts to end militancy in the Niger Delta, a situation that troubles oil production, will continue as the federal government has opened several channels of communication with relevant groups on the crisis bedeviling the region.
According to the statement, fiscal and monetary measures to lift the economy to growth territory are in the offing, including those targeting manufacturing.
The statement quoted the Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters, Dr. Adeyemi Dipeolu as saying: “Third quarter results just released by the National Bureau of Statistics show that the Nigerian economy is still in recession.
“Growth in Gross Domestic Product fell by -2.24% in the third quarter as compared to the decline of -2.07% experienced in the second quarter. The slight deterioration in national economic performance owes largely to the continued poor performance of the oil and gas sector which worsened to -22.01% in the third quarter as compared to -17.48% in the second quarter of 2016.
“The immediate cause of this, as is now generally recognised, is the steep decline in oil and gas production in the third quarter of 2016 due to acts of vandalism and sabotage of oil export facilities…It is still too early for policy interventions of the Federal Government to begin to impact fully on economic activity.”
How long is too early, however, the statement did not specify. But Nigerians are sure to disagree with that, particularly when the nation’s economic recession continues to bite harder into their pocket and degrade their state of wellbeing.
At this stage, naturally, few will accept explanations on why the economy is still in bad shape and expect improvement in conditions of living, even if it means obliterating the Niger Delta militants to achieve that.
Yet, why has the government restrained itself from use of force to better situation in the region, at a time when needless force was used in some states in the North to deal with alleged lawlessness of unarmed members of a religious sect? Why is the government averse to use of force to quell illegality in the Niger Delta, but opted for the full of force deal to degrade the Boko Haram insurgency?
Agreed the Baram Haram members engaged themselves in needless killing spree, but the Niger Delta militants are equally guilty of killings, through strangulation of the nation’s economy and making life extremely difficult for Nigerians.
No doubt, the numbers as they relate agriculture and solid minerals are encouraging, but the country’s economy, as we all know, largely depends on oil for its prosperity and this situation looks set to remain so for a long while.
Thus, while the government pursues the fiscal and monetary measures to get the country out of recession, the use of force in every part of Nigeria in order to cut threat to the peace and economic prosperity of the citizens must not be discountenanced or abandoned by the authorities in its entirety.
