Why Nigerias’ economy is seriously affecting the fall in Crude Oil Price --- Lai Mohammed Revealed

Lai Muhammed , Nigeria Minister for Information and Culture

The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed on Thursday explained why the global fall in the price of crude oil has affected the Nigerian economy so hard.

Mohammed while speaking in Abuja attributed failure to save for rainy days as the reason for the nation’s current economic challenge.

Lamenting the inability of the country to invest in infrastructure, the Minister disclosed that the nation had nothing to cushion the effect of its lost earnings.

Mohammed stated that oil producing countries and fellow members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPC, seen to be currently faring well are doing so because they were able to save for the rainy day.

Minister for information and culture, Lai Mohammed stated that “Nigeria’s economy is hard hit by the fall in the price of crude oil because the country failed to save for the rainy day, coupled with the fact that the country did not invest in infrastructure”

“Nigeria has nothing to rely on to cushion the effects of the lost earnings. Many other oil producing countries and fellow OPEC members are faring better because they saved for the rainy day.

“Saudi Arabia, with about one-fifth of Nigeria’s population, has in foreign reserves about $600 billion (which is 23 times what Nigeria has in foreign reserves).

“United Arab Emirates, with less than 10 million people, has $75 billion in foreign reserves. Qatar, with 2.4 million people, has $36 billion in foreign reserves. Even Angola, with just 24 million people, has about 25 billion dollars in foreign reserves.

“Here in Nigeria, with oil selling consistently for over $100 a barrel for many years, we simply failed to save for the rainy day, with the result that a country with a population of over 170 million today has just 26 billion dollars in foreign reserves.

“To compound this, the fall in the price of crude is having a ripple effect: the scarcity of forex, which has resulted from the oil price crash, means that industries are struggling to get forex to import raw materials and machinery.”