The Presidency has denied that the nation's economy is in danger of collapse, saying all globally recognized indices indicate the economy is stable and on an upward beat.
Senior special assistant to the president on public affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe while reacting to concern by the Action Congress of Nigeria, (ACN), said that the statement is lacking in substance.
He said that ACN's claim runs contrary to the verdicts of reputable international agencies who consistently upgraded the country's economic ratings in the last one and a half years.
"Contrary to the claim of the ACN that the cost of producing a barrel of oil had "skyrocketed" to 35 dollars in 2012 from 4 dollars in 2002, the actual cost of production stands at approximately 17 dollars per barrel. The cost of oil production per barrel had never risen as high as the opposition claims," he said.
Okupe faulted ACN again, saying that "for a fact, there are incidents of crude oil theft which had existed for several decades before this administration came on board. However, the truth is that this is currently being tackled through proactive steps by the government."
He said "one wonders if the ACN would have ignored the ratings by FITCH, STANDARD & POOR'S, MOODY'S and JP MORGAN if those bodies had turned in a negative verdict on the Nigerian economy."
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Here is the problem with Dr. Okupe's and Okonjo-Iweala's argument. The Nigerian as well as the economies of other emerging nations are tied to the West. The Western economies are now in depression by and large. Now, there is a lot of talk here in the United States of an economic collapse. The U.S. is that fragile. If that happens, what does one think will happen to the emerging economies? What will happen to the Nigerian economy? Considering the fact that the growing Nigerian economy has frightening levels of inequality, the country will suffer an economic collapse if the West collapses. That is a very important fact that cannot be ignored.