Ex-VP says Nigerian economy remains fragile due to oil dependence

Former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has revealed that the fragility of Nigerias economy is due to the countrys heavy reliance on oil revenue.

While speaking at Chatham House on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, the former vice president said the country's faulty economic structure is usually exposed when global oil prices crash.

"Nigerian economy remains fragile and vulnerable to the vagaries of the global economy," he said.

Atiku further said that if he's ever in the position to make a change to the country's economic structure, he would ensure that the country is completely non-dependent on oil revenue.

Speaking on the theme "Next Generation Nigeria: The Importance of Strengthening States' Economic Management", Atiku said economic diversification is central to a more effective economic strategy that'll strengthen the country.

He said, "Addressing diversification's central to our economic plan. Let us envision a Nigeria not dependent on hydrocarbons."

He further disclosed that to implement such a strategy, the federal government must avoid getting bogged down with "policy flip flops" that are unhelpful.

As a solution, he suggested that states should stop getting federal allocation so they can focus on generating revenue internally and become self-reliant.

He also noted that intervention programs would be put in place for underperforming states to become self-sufficient while they should be motivated to privatise the economy to free revenue from capital expenditure.

"Nigeria's Federal Government will need to have intervention programmes for those states that rank low on the Human Development Index," he said.