Finance Minister Holds Facebook Live Session on Economy

The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, has held a 23-minute live session on Facebook to provide updates on the state of the nation’s economy, the challenges, the strides and plans to improve the economy for Nigerians.

In the video which reached over 130,000 people within the first hour, Adeosun said despite the current economic hardship, “the good news is that we are working through the issues one by one, and trying to ensure that as we rebuild the economy, we get away from the boom and bust cycle of the past — we want to build an economy where, whether oil price is high or low, there’s sustainable growth for Nigeria and for Nigerians.”

The video which was broadcast from the Ministry of Finance headquarters in Abuja, and through her Facebook page (Facebook.com/HMKemiAdeosun), is available here: http://bit.ly/AskHMFinance

While answering a question on the economic recession, she said: “We got into recession because, for the last 10 years, even when the oil price was extremely high, and we were borrowing, our reserves were decreasing. We didn’t have enough of a productive economy. The only real thing that was happening and creating growth was the oil price, and as soon as the oil price went down, growth disappeared. What we are trying to do now is to reset the economy, so that we are not so dependent on oil.”

Adeosun also responded to a question on YouWin! stating that Buhari-administration had no plans to scrap the controversial project. According to her, the Federal Government has reviewed the scheme and repositioned it as YouWiN!Connect, which focuses on continuous enterprise education and skills building. As part of the restructuring, the Minister noted that YouWiN!Connect now publishes weekly editorials in four national newspapers. She added that the principles of YouWiN!Connect would be incorporated into university curricula across Nigeria.

The Minister also provided updates on the Whistleblowing policy, payroll assurance through continuous audit and migration of Ministries, and the take-off of the newly-licensed Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN).