Posted on: 04:04 Fri, 26 Feb 2016



President Muhammadu Buhari has
approved the convocation of a
national economic conference aimed
at rallying the country together to
offer solutions to the current
economic challenges facing Nigeria.

A top government official, who
spoke on condition of anonymity,
disclosed this to a group of
journalists in Abuja.

Buhari’s approval came a week
after Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole
Soyinka, called on the President to
summon an emergency economic
meeting to recommend specific
solutions to the nation’s prevailing
economic challenges to save the
country’s economy from further
drift.

Last week, the nation’s currency
slumped drastically against the
dollar due largely to scarcity of the
foreign currency and the tough
regulations of the Central Bank of
Nigeria.

This led to spiralling inflation in
the country since most products are
produced abroad, putting the our
meager foreign reserves and
currency under intense pressure.

The price of crude oil in the
international market is still within
the $30 range, meaning less money.

Soyinka, who made the call when
he visited the Minister of
Information, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed, in Abuja last
Thursday, had said experts and
consumers should be invited to the
meeting.

He had said:-

“The President should call an
emergency economic conference
with experts to be invited –
consumers, producers, labour
unions, university experts,
professors, etc. I think we really
need an emergency economic
conference, a rescue operation,
bringing as many heads as
possible together to plan the way
forward.”

It’s good that Mr President heeded
the wise counsel. Sources say the
economic conference will hold
March 10, 2016. Nigeria needs to
rise, we need manufacturing and
production. Let the action begin!