President Muhammadu Buhari has blamed saboteurs for some of the economic problems facing the country, especially the huge loss in oil revenue.
The President spoke during the inauguration of the Presidential Committee on the National Economy, held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
According to a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the President also explained that besides the woes inflicted on the economy by the loss of revenue from crude oil production, the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have also taken their tolls.
“Starting with COVID-19 and now the conflict in Ukraine, the past three years have been turbulent ones for the global economy. Global interdependence has become more apparent as we have had to deal with volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.
“Just as the world was beginning to recover from the coronavirus, the conflict in the Black Sea region between Ukraine and Russia worsened the challenges already being faced and created additional problems to which policymakers are having to respond.
“Our economy continues to grow despite the adverse effects of rising interest rates, a stronger US dollar, and higher inflation across the world”, the statement reads.
He, however, said despite the disruptions in the global economy and internal troubles, the Nigerian economy has continued to be resilient and maintains an upward trajectory.
“It is however important to note that some of the issues we must address are peculiar to us. For example, the decline in our production of crude oil. It is estimated that last month, August 2022, we produced less than 1mn barrels. The fall in production is essentially due to economic sabotage.
“With the high price of oil in the world markets, producing at about half our OPEC quota has deprived us of much-needed revenue and foreign exchange. Government is working tirelessly to reverse this situation”, he said.
