Nigeria: Drop in Oil Prices Wake-Up Call for Diversification, Says Aganga

24 March 2015

Abuja — Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, has stated that the global drop in oil prices, which made the federal government to reduce the oil price benchmark in the 2015 budget from $77 to $53 per barrel was a wake-up call for the diversification of the nation's economy. The minister made the observation at a workshop organised by the Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CICAN), Abuja Branch.

Aganga, who spoke on the theme: "Reporting Nigeria beyond oil," said time had come for the nation to embrace industrialisation and reduce the emphasis on oil. He said the current administration, in recognition of the fact that no nation has been able to move from a poor to a rich one through the export of raw materials, had put in place 62 reform programmes aimed at industrialising the economy.

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