The nation’s dwindling economy, which the government has confirmed is technically in recession, is currently affecting other African countries. President of Benin Republic, Patrice Talon, confirmed the situation yesterday when he visited President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Attacks on oil and gas installations by militants in the oil-rich Niger Delta have affected gas supply to turbines, forcing a sharp drop in power to about 3,485 megawatts.
With the current situation, Nigeria is unable to supply power to its neighbouring countries that depend on her before now. Nigeria, considered as giant of Africa, supplies electricity and gas to neighbouring countries, which include Benin Republic and Ghana. Addressing State House Correspondents at a joint press conference with Buhari after a closed-door meeting, President Talon explained that his people and his country were currently being affected by the downturn in the Nigerian economy. He said: “As Nigeria is not using its potential, it is making other West African countries suffer.
The crisis hitting Nigeria is what is hitting us. This is an opportunity for us to go back and develop other sectors.” The Beninoise President, who described Nigeria as the engine room of West Africa, urged the Federal Government to explore its non-oil sectors in order to increase the country’s revenue profile being reduced by falling oil prices in the international market. He said Nigeria remained a Big Brother in Africa and needed not to rely for too long on crude oil revenue to the detriment of other sectors.
While disclosing that the discussions at the closeddoor meeting bordered on security and economy, Talon said that his country was looking forward to reactivate the existing bilateral relationship 
between Benin and Nigeria, especially in the areas of trade relations, economy, energy development and education. According to him, his country will work with Nigeria to end the current illegal trade going on between the two countries and make what is going on pass through legal processes.
He said: “There is illegal trade between the two countries, which is creating difficulties between the two countries. We looked at the possibility of re-energizing the trade between the two countries so that illegal trade is discouraged.”
He invited Buhari to visit Benin Republic towards enhancing the cooperation between the two countries. While thanking Talon for the visit to Nigeria, Buhari noted that the Republic of Benin has always supported efforts by the Lake Chad Basin Commission to address insurgency and other trans-border crimes in the sub-region. President Talon said that Nigeria was committed to making the West Africa gas pipeline more efficient.
Buhari also promised Nigeria’s continued support for Benin, particularly in the area of energy development. Also, Buhari hosted the President of Togo, Faure Nasimbi, who paid him courtesy visit after inspecting a refinery project in Lagos State. Buhari told the Togolese leader that because Nigeria is facing power supply problem, her neighbour, Benin Republic, was also facing a similar issue.
He said: “If you will recall, I mentioned to the President of Benin that we have power problem. We have power problem and Benin has power problem because they depend on us and we are working very hard to stabilise the situation. The resources are available, the technology is available, and we are trying to stabilise the situation.” According to the president, “if we improve power which means our productivity can be competitive and God willing we are going to achieve our objectives.”
Both leaders also held a closed-door session where they discussed the crisis in South Sudan and Burundi and how the African Union could assist in ending them during its next meeting.
The Togolese President, in his remarks, said he had visited Lagos State to inspect the refinery project being built by Aliko Dangote. “I’m impressed by the investment of Dangote because we have been talking of socio-economic integration and promoting trade among African countries “If you want to promote trade, you have investors that are very competitive and will contribute to reduce import from non-Af rican countries,” he noted. According to Faure, “I was told the gas pipeline that will be built would be buried under the sea.
It means if you want to promote blue economy, our ocean needs to be very safe. We need security.” He said he invited President Buhari to attend the maritime summit on October 15 that will be held in Togo this year. Meanwhile, the Economic Management Team (EMT) of the Buhari administration yesterday held crucial talks with experts at the presidential villa with the view to finding solutions to the nation’s dwindling economy. The meeting, which was presided over by Vice- President Yemi Osinbajo, deliberated on policies that could be adopted in the short term to reflate the economy.
A statement after the meeting by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the Vice President, Laolu Akande, said experts made suggestions on how best to reflate the economy, bring it out of recession and promptly restore growth topped the agenda. During the meeting, Osinbajo expressed Buhari’s determination to continuously consider and adopt policies that would boost business, increase employment and provide succour to the poor and disadvantaged.
According to him, “We will continue to engage with experts and other stakeholders so that we can measure progress of the economic policies that have been put in place.
“The challenges are many, but the opportunities are much greater, we are clearly on the path to building an economy that will create jobs and ensure inclusive growth.” Akande said the EMT meets weekly and also holds special consultations with members of the private sector and economic experts from time to time. Experts who attended the four-hour long special meeting were Mr. Bismarck Rewane, Mr. Bode Augusto, Prof. Akpan Ekpo, Dr. Ayo Teriba and Prof. Badayi Sani. He said other issues discussed at the consultative forum include the review of the new foreign exchange regime and its effect on the economy, as well as the draft Medium Term Economic Framework for 2017-2019.
The EMT members and the experts made a plethora of suggestions on how to reflate the economy, especially through massive infrastructural spending with active private sector participation, ensure propeople economic policies; increase the supply of dollars to the forex market, among other issues. Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, in his remark, said: “We’ve just finished a special meeting of the economic management team, as you know; we are in the middle of consultations to develop the new mid-term economic framework, MTEF.”
He disclosed that the meeting is “part of a comprehensive consultation process that we are embarking on to make sure that we reach out to a wide spectrum of Nigerians to get a feedback in terms of how best to make sure that we come out of this recession.”
– New Telegraph
