It seems the recent oil price slump has taught the Nigerian government a valuable lesson, as President Goodluck Jonathan has said that the 2015 Federal budget currently before the National Assembly for approval was prepared with the objective of deepening Nigeria’s effort to develop an economy not based on oil.
Speaking in his New Year’s message to Nigerians, the president said that despite the pressures on the country’s economy as a result of the continued fall in global oil prices, the government had included measures in the budget to ensure that the country’s development plans and national economy were not adversely affected.
The president also said that, apart from restructuring the country’s financial course of action to improve the economy, other steps were also being taken to protect the poor and the low and medium income earners from the negative impact of declining oil prices on the economy, and that his administration was determined to lay the foundation for a vibrant economy in 2015.
Conscious of the inherent disadvantages as a result of over-dependence on incomes from crude oil exports for national development, the president said government would focus on policies to accelerate the diversification of the country’s economic base.
The president said those policies would be aimed at promoting the expansion of the non-oil sector, which, he noted, had become a major driver of growth in the economy, growing by an average of 8 per cent in the last four years.
