Concerned
by the worsening conditions of Nigerians as a result of the economic
recession, the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, said tuesday
in Ilorin that the Senate upon resumption next week, would probe the
cause of the recession, stating that it was necessary to know why in
spite of budgetary provisions, many more citizens have receded below
poverty line.
“The Senate on resumption will respond
to the economic crisis with a number of measures including getting
managers of the economy to give account to the people, making tough
recommendations to the president on needed changes, formulating
necessary legislative framework for economic recovery and undertaking
wide consultations across the private sector,” he told journalists at
his residence during the Eid-el-Kabir celebrations.
Worries about the ailing economy were
shared also by a former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,
who offered some tips on the way out of the woods, saying effective
handling of spiralling inflation, foreign exchange problem, fiscal
deficit and debts control were key to resolving the current economic
crisis.
Okonjo-Iweala who spoke on Aljazeera TV
programme, The Stream, said focusing on the basic issues of
macroeconomic stability was crucial to fixing the country’s economic
challenges.
Saraki, in his intervention, explained
why the legislative interrogation of the executive management of the
economy had become necessary: “We need to know why the promises of
external borrowing have not materialised, why devaluation has not helped
to strengthen the naira, why inflow of foreign currency has continued
to dry up and interest rate is still very high? Doing this will help us
to understand where we are, so that we can determine where exactly we
want to go from here.”
Read More: thisdaylive
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