COVID-19: Nigerian economy not doing badly ― Lawan

Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, has assured that there is no cause for alarm over the decline in the national Gross Domestic Products (GDP) due to the COVID-19 pandemic as he believes that the economy has not done badly compared to other countries.

Speaking to State House correspondents after attending Thursday’s virtual meeting of the Council of State in Abuja, he admonished that the country should not be complacent as it is not where it out to be.

Lawan advocated the continuous provision of palliatives to the most vulnerable in society to mitigate the effect of the pandemic.

He assured that the National Assembly will continue to approve policies of the government that will touch the lives of people and help them to survive the pandemic.

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The Senate President said: “Yes, we still have a long way to go, we are not where we would have loved to be, but when you are faced with COVID-19, you know that this is a global pandemic and no country has been spared and when you compare your performance in the area of economy with other giant, more robust economies like the USA and Germany, you’ll be happy that you have experienced only -6 downturn in your economy when others have 19, others have even more. Those are economies that are stronger, that have put in more resources to address the COVID-19 challenges.

“We have tried to put in what we can, but I think the secret here is we have been able to sustain what we are doing even though with lesser resources. But I think -6, as reported by the NBS, that’s the downwards turn in our GDP.

“Ordinarily, we shouldn’t be happy with it, but in the current circumstance where every country is experiencing this kind of thing, South Africa, the second-largest economy in Africa, is experiencing worse.

“We are not doing badly, but that is not to say we should be complacent. I think we should continue to work on the post-COVID-19 economy that we are looking at. We should continue to invest to ensure that we protect the employment of our people so that our people don’t fall into joblessness. We should provide palliatives as much as we can for those who are so disadvantaged and require the support of the Federal Government.

“Also the subnational, the states should also continue to support the federal government in its efforts to keep everybody afloat and I believe that even though our resources are scarce, but I think we are facing the right direction and for us in the National Assembly, we’ll continue to approve good policies of the government, especially when it comes to areas that will touch the lives of the ordinary man to help survive this situation and even to help him do better after the COVID-19.”

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE