President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the goverment will work with the recommendations made at the “Going for Growth 2:0 Roundtable Session to improve economic growth and creation of jobs.
Buhari spoke on Wednesday at a dinner following the conclusion of the roundtable which had the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria Godwin Emefiele and Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote, and others in attendance.
Buhari, who reeled out policies and programmes of his government, thanked the roundtable “for taking the time to discuss and provide recommendations on current economic issues, which could help support continued growth of the Nigerian economy.”
He said the government remains steadfast in seeking to promote growth of the Nigerian economy, and by extension the growth of the Nigerian private sector.
“I am glad to note that following recent recession and supported by growth enhancing fiscal and monetary policy measures, GDP growth has remained in positive territory for the past 11 quarters. The positive growth has been driven by grice in key sectors of our economy such as Agriculture, Industry, Oil and Gas, as well as ICT,” he added.
Buhari said the onset of the coronavirus in December 2019, which has spread to over 100 countries, is having a significant impact on global growth, as well as commodity prices such as crude oil, which has dropped by over 45 percent since January 2020.
“These external challenges have only served to reinforce the importance of ensuring that Nigeria is self-sufficient in the production of strategic goods. They have also highlighted the fact that we need to continue to implement measures that would enable growth in other sectors of our economy and reduce our dependence on earnings from crude oil,” he said.
While noting that his administration has made some progress in diversifying the economy, he welcomed the continued collaboration with the private sector.
