President Buhari Projects Recession, Blames Nigerians For Lack Of Job Opportunities

President Muhammadu Buhari said Nigeria's economy will enter recession for the second time in four years as he disclosed that the Federal Government project another economic contraction in the third quarter of 2020.

While President Buhari didn't disclose the extent to which his administration expects the economy to shrink, he said the economy will post negative - which means there won't be growth recorded in Q3 - and it will have significant adverse consequences.

He made this known while commenting on the 2021 budget. Despite Nigeria's economy declining in the second quarter, President Buhari said it performed better when compared to other countries.

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"The resulting global economic recession, low oil prices and heightened global economic uncertainty have had important implications for our economy. The Nigerian economy is currently facing serious challenges, with the macroeconomic environment being significantly disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

"Real Gross Domestic Product, GDP, growth declined by 6.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2020. This ended the three-year trend of positive, but modest, real GDP growth recorded since the second quarter of 2017. I am glad to note that, through our collective efforts, our economy performed relatively better than that of many other developed and emerging economies."

The president added that, "GDP growth is projected to be negative in the third quarter of this year. As such, our economy may lapse into the second recession in four years, with significant adverse consequences."

President Buhari's Solution To Impending Recession

According to President Buhari, his administration has outlined some programmes that will lift Nigerians out of poverty over the next 10 years to fill the lack of opportunities created by skill deficit among Nigerians.

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"However, we are working assiduously to ensure a rapid recovery in 2021. We remain committed to implementing programmes to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty over the next 10 years.

"As skills’ deficits limit employment opportunities in the formal economy, various skills’ development programmes are being implemented simultaneously to address this problem frontally.

"For instance, the government is implementing the Special Public Works programme to provide employment opportunities to 774,000 youths across the 774 local government areas of Nigeria.

"We have also recently introduced the N75 billion Nigeria Youth Investment Fund, of which N25 billion have been provided in 2021 Budget." President Buhari said.