The
United States military yesterday warned that the Nigerian economy
remains under great threat following the surge in criminal activities in
the Niger Delta and the threats by militants to resume bombing of oil
facilities in the region...
The rise in lawless activities around the Gulf
of Guinea was also identified as another threat to Nigeria’s economy.
The
warning from the Commander of the United States Naval Forces in charge
of Europe and Africa, Admiral Michelle Howard, is coming amid a ray of
hope by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) that Nigeria was now out
of economic recession with a growth rate of 0.55 per cent.
Howard,
who was speaking while presenting the US Presidential Medal of Honour
to Nigeria’s Deputy Military Attachee to the US, Navy Captain Kolawole
Oguntuda, at the Naval Headquarters in Abuja said: “Oil extraction and
production accounts for 75% of Nigeria’s revenue with the vast majority
of oil infrastructure existing off shore or really close inshore. So
terrorism, criminal networks, illegal bunkering with damages of oil
pipeline directly threatens Nigeria economy.
“That
is where navies come in. I, as the commander, regards the Nigerian Navy
as a key regional partner in securing the Gulf of Guinea and I seek to
strengthen our relationship by assisting in economic security and
enhancing regional stability.”
Speaking,
the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas assured
that the Nigerian Navy was ready and capable of containing threats
posed by the Niger Delta militants.
“We
actually don’t need people from outside to tell us how strategic
Nigerian Navy is in securing our environment, maritime space and the
Gulf of Guinea.
“The
maritime environment has seen a spate of piracy attacks, robbery,
especially last year. We also saw some elements of resource theft,
including illegal fishing in our waters, human trafficking, arms
trafficking as well as drug trafficking, not to mention waste dumbing
and environmental concerns.
“The strategic role Nigeria plays is what has brought in America. For
the threats you mentioned in the Niger Delta, one thing I want to
assure you is that so long as human beings exist, there will always be
conflicts, and once there are conflicts, there would always be ways of
resolving those conflicts.
“For Nigerian Navy, we will continue to build our capacity and capabilities to enable us contain such threats,” Ibas stated.
On
securing Nigeria’s maritime territory, the CNS added: “If Nigeria is
the main concern to look at in the sub-region, Nigeria therefore becomes
an important country for those who have interest in this region, to
come and have conversation to see how they can enhance the maritime law
enforcement agencies, in this case, the Nigerian Navy in particular, to
see how we can make the maritime environment secured and promote trade
and prosperity in the region.
“US
government has always been offering us support. The sea do not belong
to any particular individual, they are global commons, and transnational
crimes that occur, means that from one country to the other, your
security can be compromised if the sea space is not properly governed.
“So,
for US, wherever they have interest, they are ready to provide the
needed support. And I think it stands for Nigeria also, where we have to
ensure that the Gulf of Guinea is secured, including the security of
neighbouring states.”
Udoma: Steps Taken to Reflate Economy Got Nigeria Out of Recession
In
a related development, the Minister of Budget and National Planning,
Udo Udoma has declared that the steps taken by the federal government to
reflate the economy through the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan
(ERGP) culminated in the country exiting recession in the second quarter
of 2017.
Udoma,
who was a guest of Arise TV, the broadcast arm of the THISDAY Media
Group, recalled that earlier in the year, the Buhari administration
unveiled its flagship programme – Economic Recovery and Growth Plan
(ERGP) – “that sets out strategy for the next four years on what we
intend to do to get the economy firstly out of recession and on to a
sustained diversified inclusive growth.”
According
to the minister, the target was to achieve a 7 per cent growth by 2020,
adding that focusing on the five execution priorities of the ERGP
helped in seeing the economy out of contraction.
Udoma
added: “The steps that we have been taking to reflate the economy, to
make it easier to do business, focused on the five execution priorities –
stabilising the macroeconomic framework, agriculture, transportation,
power and energy and manufacturing. These are things that have helped to
get us out of the recession and those are things that are going to get
us into the path of sustaining it.”
The
Budget and National Planning Minister said the administration was
taking some measures to ensure that the economy takes a firm footing.
He
said: “What we are trying to do basically is to diversify the economy.
It is true I do agree that at the moment we are dependent on one
commodity – crude oil. That is something that we inherited and our plan
is to move out of that dependency, but to move out of that dependency,
we need the resources from crude oil and that is why we have a lot of
initiatives in the Niger Delta to try and get oil production back.
“Yes,
we are dependent but our plan is to move out of that dependency and
therefore we are putting a lot of resources on agriculture and
agriculture has been moving up, production has moved up. We are putting a
lot of resources as well as to get manufacturing going, and in the 2017
Budget, we allocated funds for special economic zones in each of the
geo-political zones of Nigeria.
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