Nigerians Sorry, Tougher Times Ahead ––says Okonjo-Iweala

Poverty is coming heavy in Nigeria, the poor will continue to suffer, the rich have enough to enjoy:

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Thursday said the country would this month begin to feel the impact of the falling global oil prices, which started in June. Consequently, she said the country needed to brace for tougher times ahead by reviewing its expenditures and building economic buffers through budgets that would be based on modest oil prices.

She said sound macroeconomic management is crucial to Nigeria at this time, while also emphasising the need to plug all revenue leakages.

Speaking in Lagos at the Africa Financial Summit, Okonjo-Iweala said:

“We have not seen the impact of the falling oil prices in Nigeria; it will start this month. We have to drive the non-oil revenue base to be able to weather the storm that is coming.”

She, however, said Nigeria was not alone in the coming economic storm, pointing out that a large number of African countries that relied on commodity export as the mainstay of their economies would also be affected by the global fall in the prices of such commodities.

The minister said the global fall in the prices of export commodities such as gold, iron ore and agricultural produce such as cocoa, cotton and coffee was bound to affect most African economies, which relied on commodity export as the major source of revenue.

Quoting from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Okonjo-Iweala said the ratio of export commodity to total merchandise was very high in a large number of African countries.

She said there is urgent need for Nigeria and other African countries to explore other means of shoring up their revenues in the face of the falling prices of export commodities