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Tag: recession

  • Recession: Ex Deputy Governor urges Nigerians to be prayerful

    Alhaji Ahmed Gusau, a former Deputy Governor of Sokoto State, has advised Nigerians to be patient, hopeful, and prayerful for God’s intervention in the socioeconomic and political activities of the country .

    Gusau gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Sokoto on Saturday.

    He said that Nigerians irrespective of political party affiliations should seek divine intervention for God to turn the nation economy for optimal goal.

    “We should all be prayerful in this period of economy recession, insurgency, militancy, kidnapping ,cattle rustling and any act capable of tempering with our nation hard earn unity,” he said.

    According to him, through fervent prayers the lost glory, virtues and dignity of Nigeria will be restored.

    He appealed to “Nigerians to be patient, hopeful, expectant and put trust in God who can turn all situations around for the better, above all pray for our God chosen leaders.”

    Gusau said that good will from followers would pave way for leaders to fashioned out plausible policies and programmes that would ensure good democratic governance.

    The Peoples Democratic Party chieftain also urged Nigerians to pray and support their leaders and admonished the country’s leadership to have the fear of God in all that they do.

    He said that it was only by so doing that democracy dividends would be provided to the governed irrespective of political party differences.

  • Recession: Aremu canvasses pay rise for workers

    Recession: Aremu canvasses pay rise for workers

    Textile Workers Union has urged the Federal Government to constitute a tripartite committee on the review of a new national minimum wage for workers, saying workers needeed a wage increase that would lead to recovery.

    Speaking with The Nation, the General Secretary of the union, Issa Aremu,  said the prompt payment of salaries by states and local government councils was a way of stimulating the economy.

    He added: “Nigeria needs a wage-led economic recovery. The recent CBN report on the economy and to a large extent the latest report of National Bureau of Statistics, showed that weak demand for goods was one of the factors responsible for low capacity utilisation of many private sector companies.

    “So, to overcome the economic crisis, workers whose wages buy basic goods and services must not only be paid on time, but their wages must be increased. Nigeria cannot overcome recession with the existing miserable pay of workers and pensioners.”

    He urged President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently put in place a tripartite committee that would  review the grossly low minimum wage.

    He said  workers had long been in depression before the recession because of the crisis of compensation manifesting in salary arrears.

    He added that the collapse of wages caused by massive naira devaluation and price inflation of close to 20 per cent needed to be redressed.

    Aremu said  the minimum wage of N125 in 1981 was equivalent to 240 dollars.

    “Then we had stable strong exchange rate and lower inflation. In  real terms, workers in 1981 earned more than the current N18,000 minimum wage.

    “With naira devaluation, it has unacceptably fallen to less than 45 dollars in 2016, a quarter of its nominal value in 2016 and less than one per cent of its value in 1981 about 40 years ago, worsening income poverty.

    “For Nigerian economy to recover, there must be massive public spending in reconstruction and significantly mass spending by working people through improved wages.

    “You cannot fight corruption with poorly paid workforce; poorly paid worker is not only hungry but rightly angry and even vulnerable to corrupt practices,’’ Aremu said.

     

  • ‘Recession can’t end in three months’

    ‘Recession can’t end in three months’

    The President Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Tony Ejinkeonye has disagreed with the Federal Government’s promise to end recession by December this year.

    Ejinkeonye who was reacting to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) claim that the country’s economic recovery would begin in the last quarter of the year, in a statement said it takes a minimum of five years for any country to recover from economic recession.

    He said: “Federal Government had no physical measures in place to determine that the country would be out of the woods in the next three months.

    “We have economic recession, economic recovery and economic boom. It takes a period of five years for a country to recover from recession before it can start talking of economic boom, that is, if the right measures are in place.

    “We are yet to know the physical measures the government has put in place to enable Nigerians know that they are on the right track.

    “Even when the right decisions and policies are set out, we do not agree that recovery will come too soon.”

    According to him, government is not doing what it should do, stressing that countries such as Thailand went into recession and came out of it last year. He said the Federal Government was either being economic with the truth or not telling the citizens the things that are happening to the economy.

    He added that unless the Federal Government had a short term programme that will check the current economic hardship, ending the crisis by December might be a mirage.

    “There are no structures on ground to suggest that it would happen. I do not think it is going to happen soon; it then means they have only one quarter to get us out of a recession that is so deep. We do not believe that. It will take a while,” he said.

  • Recession: Is the worst really over now?

    Recession: Is the worst really over now?

    Recently, the Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, had to admit what had long been known to both local and foreign analysts that Nigeria was technically in a recession. For an economy that was growing at over 5 per cent only two years ago, the recession, an encircling gloom, is much worse than expected. It was courageous of the Finance Minister to have made that admission, as captains of a sinking ship do not normally admit that their ship is sinking. Recent data from the Federal Bureau of Statistics showed that in the second quarter of the year, the economy declined by 2.6 per cent, making this possibly one of the worst recessions in Nigeria’s recent economic and financial history.

    The Buhari APC federal government says it is doing all it can to tackle the recession. Leading spokesmen for the federal government have been increasingly upbeat about the efficacy of the fiscal and monetary strategies being adopted to end the recession and how soon this objective can be achieved. However, I was startled by the overly optimistic forecast last week by the Finance Minister that the recession should bottom out in the second half of 2017. In fact, echoing the optimism of the Finance Minister, the beleaguered Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, was reported as being equally upbeat about the prospects of ending the recession sooner than thought possible by most credible financial and economic analysts. He was reported in The Nation of Monday, September 19, as saying that the worst of the recession was over. If by ‘over’ he means that the recession has bottomed out and that the economy can now return to growth, I have to say that his optimism is premature. There is still a lot of work to be done and more ground to cover before we can say the recession is over. We have to wait for the release of the economic data in the last quarter of this year to make that judgment. I personally do not think that the recession will end in the time frame being projected. Even with the most efficient strategies there is a time lag involved in the process of economic stabilisation, particularly as the basic problem is structural.

    Some of the commendable economic and financial measures being introduced by the federal government to end the recession include a stimulus package of which, so far, some N420 billion has been injected into the economy to provide it with an impetus. The Finance Minister has announced that another sum of N374 billion will be injected into the economy shortly in the hope of jump starting it. Other financial measures include an impressive social spending programme that could act as a catalyst for the depressed economy. But it is doubtful that in the short run these measures have the capacity to end the recession and bring the economy back to growth. The reason is that Nigeria’s recession is not merely cyclical but structural as well. Nigeria is not only wholly dependent on oil exports and revenues. It is also largely import dependent. Right now the external sector is weak. Until the global glut in oil supply and falling prices for oil exports end, Nigeria’s revenue from oil imports will not increase significantly in the short run. With the exception of China and India, the rest of the world is still in recession. In the EU, the average growth rate is less than 2 per cent. So, for Nigeria, improved oil exports and revenues remain a critical factor in its efforts to end the recession. As for food imports, there is obviously a need to reduce these, as it is putting pressure on Nigeria’s foreign reserves. But I do not think the way to handle this is to place a ban, or restrictions, on some food imports and industrial raw materials. These restrictions and bans are not likely to work. The goods banned will still find their way into Nigeria through large scale smuggling. The revenue that Nigeria should earn will go instead to corrupt Customs officials. Instead of the bans, high tariff instruments should be used to reduce our food import bill. Other countries use this strategy to great effect. But, like the MPC of the CBN, I also have some reservations about the possible negative consequences of injecting such a huge amount of money into the economy in so short a time. Nigeria, no doubt, needs a stimulus package. But it is important to calibrate and moderate this large cash injection into the economy as this will, no doubt, fuel the already high inflation rate, now averaging 17 per cent. And this could undermine growth. The proposed emergency spending bill, which seeks to short circuit the existing procedure for the award of public contracts, will also add to the rate of inflation. It can even fuel public corruption.

    There are other equally critical issues that have to be addressed urgently if we are to end the recession as swiftly as possible. The first is how to reduce the huge budget deficits to a more manageable level. Of course, Nigeria needs to increase its IGR urgently to address the huge budgetary deficits. But the country’s financing gap is about $30 billion annually and this financing gap is increasing steadily because of its inability or failure to widen its revenue base. The recent $I billion capital inflow is welcome. But it will not solve Nigeria’s basic economic problem. More funds should be generated internally. In this regard, the VAT, now 5 per cent, should be increased to 10 per cent to bridge some of the deficits. Because of global financial uncertainties, we cannot continue to rely indefinitely on foreign loans to finance our capital projects. At a time of a global economic and financial recession as we have now it will become increasingly difficult to raise such funds abroad. And successive federal governments are to blame for this difficult financial situation. When President Obasanjo left office in 2007, he left over $60 billion in foreign reserves, and this was after he had successfully renegotiated our foreign debts and paid the balance off. As reported by the Governor of the CBN, the foreign reserves stood at $68 billion in 2008. Today our total foreign reserves are down to only $25 billion, despite record oil exports and revenues accruing to the domestic economy. According to the Governor of the CBN, $62 billion was simply frittered away by Obasanjo’s successors, principally by the wasteful and corrupt Jonathan PDP federal government. It is being suggested by some analysts, including the Governor of the CBN, that some of the assets of the federal government in the NNPC and the NLNG be sold off to raise additional revenue for the government. In fact, the Governor of the CBN was reported as saying that had this opportunity been taken six months ago, the federal government would have made about $40 billion from the sale of these assets. But now, it will not make more than $20 billion. Much valuable time has been lost. But I do not support the idea of selling at these uncertain times such valuable assets. Much of these assets will only be sold to the government’s cronies at below their real market price. In any case, it is unwise to sell these strong financial assets now simply to reduce the budget deficits or finance the importation of unnecessary goods into our country.  Ultimately, the NNPC will have to be scrapped altogether. It is a major source of public corruption in our country

    A major critical imperative in the economic recovery programme of the Buhari APC federal government is the urgent need to restore stability in the macro economy. At the moment there is volatility in the naira exchange rate, banks’ lending rates (now 20 per cent) and hyper inflation (now 17 per cent. Unless we get our economic fundamentals back on track and restore the macro economy to stability, it will be difficult for the Nigerian economy to return to a stable, sustainable and modest growth rate. A kind of coherent structural adjustment programme is now urgently needed. Tougher measures to arrest the economic drift and recession are badly needed. President Buhari should not flinch from taking them. In fact, these tough measures should have been taken in the first 100 days of his government. But the government dithered and wasted much valuable time by refusing to bite the bullet when it became clear that the economy was in disequilibrium. Decisions on the naira exchange rate adjustment and the timely removal of the oil subsidy were some of the issues over which the government dithered. For any structural adjustment programme to have the desired impact, its sequencing must be absolutely right. In 1986 the Babangida military regime got its sequencing right. That was the reason for the impressive growth of the economy in the late 1980s when it recorded an average of about 6 per cent, about the highest in Nigeria’s economic history. Of course this high growth rate was also made possible by the significant increase in revenue from oil then selling at $120 per barrel. But the growth rate later fell due to policy slippages and flip flopping by the Babangida regime.

    I have to say as well that I have some reservations about the decision to allocate 60 per cent of the available forex to the manufacturing sector. The banks are already circumventing this. While I fully understand the reason for this, which is to enable the sector improve on its capacity utilisation and create more jobs, my view is that this measure undermines a liberalised foreign exchange mechanism, essential to our economic recovery strategy. It is all the more disturbing as the total contribution of the sector to our GDP is less than 10 per cent. The Lagos Chamber of Commerce, a member of the OPS, has already expressed its strong objections to this strategy. And if we have to fully exploit the opportunities and potential for growth in the mineral resources and agricultural sectors, then they need to be treated with special consideration also in the allocation of forex. These are the sectors in which real growth can be expected.

  • Saraki seeks sale of NLNG shares, concession of major airports, others to end recession

    Saraki seeks sale of NLNG shares, concession of major airports, others to end recession

    Senate President Bukola Saraki yesterday suggested how the recession in the country can be made the shortest in history.

    He spoke while welcoming senators after their over two-month annual recess.

    Saraki, who promised that the Senate would work with the Executive to get  economy out of recession, suggested the sale of some shares in the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited, reduction of government share in upstream oil joint venture operations; and sale of government stake in financial institutions (such as Africa Finance Corporation) and privatisation and concession of major/regional airports and refineries

    The Senate, he said, had made inroad in this regard with the passage of some of the key priority legislation, such as the passage of Procurement Act (Amendment) Bill, Electronic Transactions Bill, Railway Bill, Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (Amendment) Bill and Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme Bill, among others.

    Saraki urged his colleagues not to hide under partisan solidarity to abdicate their constitutional responsibility under the principles of checks and balances.

    He said the Executive must raise capital from asset sales and other sources to shore up foreign reserves.

    “This will calm investors, discourage currency speculation and stabilise the economy. The measures should include part sale of NLNG Holdings; reduction of government share in upstream oil joint venture operations; sale of government stake in financial institutions e.g. Africa Finance Corporation; and privatisation and concession of major/regional airports and refineries,” Saraki said.

    He advised that the Executive must consider tweaking the pension funds policy within international best practice safeguards to accommodate investment in infrastructure and mortgages.

    Saraki said senators must turn their attention towards a number of legislative priorities, such as the Petroleum Industry Bills.

    After his address, the Senate adjourned yesterday in honour of Adewale Elija Oluwatayo, a member of House of Representatives from Lagos State, who died on July 21.

    The lawmakers resume plenary today.

    Saraki said the Senate must  support the Executive to make the recession the shortest in history.

    He said: “Many times experts have quipped that Nigeria is finished, but we come back stronger. This occasion will not be any different. But it will not happen by a slogan! No, it will take positive leadership and unity. Never in our history has the need to show leadership and unity been more acute, more urgent than now. We cannot afford to play politics with our situation. As a parliament, we are in this together with the Executive and the Judiciary, we cannot afford to fail Nigerians.

    “My expectation is that by the time we are done with our debate we should make key actionable recommendations to the Executive on what this chamber sees as the way forward in the immediate, mid-term and long-term solutions to this situation. And as representatives of our people we must follow up through regular oversight and pressure on the Executive to ensure that they deliver on our recommendations. On our path, however, we are ready to pass the legislative measures that will facilitate our quick exit from this recession.”

    Senate Leader Mohammed Ali Ndume said the Senate was prepared to bail out the country from recession.

    Ndume said recession could be taken as blessing in disguise because it would enable the country that had relied solely on oil to diversify its economy.

     

  • Recession: Federal Govt to relax procurement conditions

    Recession: Federal Govt to relax procurement conditions

    The Federal Government yesterday said it would consider relaxing some of the procurement conditions contained in the procurement law in order to get Nigeria out of recession.

    Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, spoke when she appeared on Sunrise Daily, a programme on Channels Television monitored in Abuja.

    The minister said because of the strict procurement law, some ministries have not been able to access the N350 billion released recently by the government.

    She said: “There are some ministries that have been slowed down by the procurement processes. It is about transparency versus speed. We want open tenders because that gives us the best price and that is what also gives opportunities to Nigerians to bid for and to get government contracts.

    “If it is taking between four and 16 weeks to get through the bureaucracy, at this point in time, we think we can’t afford those delays. So we need to say ‘look, procurement laws are made for usual times and these are unusual times, can we look at relaxing some of the condition?’

    “Similarly there is a transaction we are working on at the moment which is a very pivotal transaction with General Electric – they want to run freight on our own rail system which will create huge number of jobs across the country.

    “But it’s bogged down by rules that say ‘you’ve got to do this and that you’ve got to advertise and keep it up for a while;’ we don’t have that time.

    “So there are some areas where I think it would be useful to have some legislative amendments.”

    The minister also said the plans of the government to get the country out of recession had not changed.

    According to her, the plan is to stimulate the economy by redirecting expenditure from recurrent into capital in order to create jobs.

    “Our plans haven’t changed. We need to stimulate the economy and we are going to do so largely by redirecting expenditure from recurrent into capital because we believe that capital expenditure will create jobs and create more productivity in the economy in the long run and help us to diversify.

    ”To do so, we’ve got to invest in our capital infrastructure. There are a number of bottlenecks that we have already identified and which we think that given where we are, it might be worthy looking at how to unlock them.

    “For example, we have pumped a fairly large amount of capital into the economy through various ministries, departments and agencies, some of which have deployed it very quickly and are ready for more and we are about to release another tranche of N350 billion. So our worst case scenario in terms of our planning has already happened.

    “From now on, the only way really is up. The only way is recovery; the only way is forward,” the minister said.

    The minister also said the government had spent N22 billion in two months for the transportation sector.

    Mrs. Adeosun said part of the funds would be used to complete various ongoing airport projects that were stalled because of lack of counterpart funding from government.

    According to the minister, the government is also planning to release another N80 billion to Ministry of Power, Works and Housing to undertake road projects across the country.

    She said seven contractors are owed N500 billion over work done in 2012 under ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s government.

    “We have released significant funds into the area of transportation and infrastructure. And just to give you an example, for the whole of last year, we spent N4.9 billion. In the last two months, we have released about N22 billion for airport projects that were stalled because Nigeria had not paid its counterpart funding.

    “We have released N109 billion to Ministry of Power, Works and Housing. N74 billion of which went to road. Last year, we did N90 billion for the whole year. This year we have done N74 billion. In two months, we are about to release another N80 billion to the same ministry. There are a lot of activities to address the transportation problem.

    “About seven contractors are owed about N500 billion for work they have already done. We came in and gave them money to get to work. Some of them have come to us and say they have not received payment since 2012,” she added.

  • Recession won’t limit Nigeria, says Emmanuel

    Recession won’t limit Nigeria, says Emmanuel

    Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel has said the recession will not limit the country.

    The governor said Nigeria would overcome the challenges and the global depression.

    Emmanuel addressed State House correspondents yesterday in Abuja after meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa.

    He said: “Everything we do, I keep reassuring Nigerians. We want to be together in Nigeria. So, whatever we discussed, it is in the interest of our citizens. We make sure we put our heads together to solve our challenges as a developing nation.

    “Let me assure Nigerians that there is no developing country that doesn’t go through what we go through. But how do we make effort to face the challenges? That’s why you see us putting heads together, trying to appraise and trying to find a solution that will be enduring.

    “We are not limited by what we see all over the world. We are not limited by the recession and, based on what people see, we will go beyond that. We shall go beyond biases: ethnicity, religion, even gender. We shall rise in togetherness. That’s the message.”

    On his visit to the Villa, Emmanuel said: “I think we will always come here because we were mandated by the governors’ forum to come and discuss certain issues with the Vice President. That’s why you saw two of us here. We were supposed to be three but the third governor could not make it.”

    According to him, the meeting was fruitful because some issues were tackled.

    On the anniversary of the creation of Akwa Ibom State, he said: “My state will be 29 on September 23. We chose to mark it and thank God. A child that was born 29 years ago is a father. As a state, development strides have been made in the last 29 years and where God has brought us. That is why we want to thank God and make the citizens know where we are going to.

    On the economic challenges, the governor said: “There is recession. You must give hope to the citizens. I think we are on the right path and we are going somewhere. I know that where we are going will bring about prosperity, job creation and other good things. At the end of the day, we just want to improve on the living standard of every citizen. I believe and what we normally say once the passion is right is that nothing is impossible.

    “Once the government is ongoing, there is always a project. We don’t celebrate projects; it is either you inaugurate or build a new one. But I am one governor who won’t make so much noise. We still have a long way to go.

    “You can also say you have achieved so much while you stamped out hunger, unemployment. You cannot be happy when you see a young man who has finished school but has not been employed. So, we cannot roll out the drums to celebrate but only to thank God. We are going to the Promised Land and we will be there. But mind you, on the way to the Promised Land, you have to pass through the wilderness.”

     

  • Recession: Group urges youths to be innovative

    A Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Masterpiece Resource Development Centre, (MRDC), has urged young people to innovate as a way to survive the economic recession.

    MRDC’s Convener/ Chief Responsibility Officer, Mrs Moduoe Oyekunle, said this yesterday ahead of the 7th annual Young Entrepreneurs Network (YEN) conference which holds on September 27 and 28 at NECA event Centre, Ikeja, Lagos.

    She said youths must believe in themselves, see opportunities and change their way of thinking to develop the economy.

    According to her, the conference will enable entrepreneurs to think differently “and connect with the right people in order to be able to think and look inwards to diversify the economy.”

    “It will also provide youths with relevant skills to take their businesses to the next level, while also connecting with other entrepreneurs and open them to opportunities they can harness to get engaged in the business world,” Oyekunle added.

    She said Minister of Finance, Mrs KemI Adeosun and Pastor Tunde Bakare of the Later Rain Assembly are among the speakers at the conference, while noting Adeosun will hold an exclusive networking session with some entrepreneurs.

    Chairman, MRDC, Mr Abiola Popoola noted that entrepreneurship “is the only way to go” in the current economic downturn.

    He said the state of the economy is meant to enable entrepreneurs to find solution to the problems of the environment and “think out practical ways to solve the economic challenges to earn economic gain.”

    President of YEN, Uche Nwosu added that the conference will help to build businesses towards being successful, sustainable and trans-generational in order to achieve national development.

    “The conference will also bring people to the reality that Nigeria belongs to us and we must develop it by ourselves as individuals,” he said.

  • Experts advise Buhari on ways out of recession

    Experts advise Buhari on ways out of recession

    Insurance and pension experts have advised President Muhammadu Buhari to reflate the economy by spending money in the right direction and have a co-ordinated strategy.

    They posited that the President should also focus on getting the domestic economy to function and ensure clarity on what is critical, and urged Nigerians to see the recession as a blessing to  move the country away from a mono product economy.

    Former Commissioner for Insurance, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Fola Daniel in an interview with The Nation said the recession was good for the country and urged Nigerians to see it as a blessing, though painful.

    “It has made us to move from a mono product economy to a diversified economy. For the first time, we are focusing on agriculture. States that have never produced rice like Plateau are now producing. Many other states from the Southsouth and Southeast are now producing rice. The rice is even of better quality than imported rice. These farmers would be able to make money and migration would be reduced.

    “Another area, which we are now focusing on is the mining sector. We have begun to move away from oil. The problem of oil theft is the remote cause of this recession. I believe that we will be proud of this recession in the nearest future and we will never go back to being a mono product economy.

    “I do not think we should blame this government because they are bracing up and focusing on new things. They are on the right part,” he said.

    Chairman, Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp), Eguarekhide Longe, who is also the Managing Director of AIICO Pension, said he believed the country was moving in the right direction, and warned that looking at the exchange rate would be looking at a wrong direction.

    He noted that recession should not be seen as a poison pill or death sentence, stating that the real test of any environment is the response framework of the government.

    He said: “Most importantly, we need a co-ordinated strategy. There has to be clarity about what is critical, focus on getting our domestic economy to function. What the government has done is to rely on external environment to get the exchange rate to manageable position, but I think we need to get people to spend money in the economy.

    “Monetary Policy rate (MPR) should be coming down so that we can get the economic activity moving within Nigeria.”

    To the Director-General of the Nigeria Insurers Association (NIA), Sunday Thomas, this is the time when everyone must come together and do “our own bit within the circumstance that we find ourselves”.  He said the recession did not start with the present administration, but past the administrations.

    “The situation we find ourselves did not start today. It is something that has been on but was being managed. Now we are at the lowest level. The only way to go now is up.

    “President Buhari said we (Nigerians) are closer to getting out of the woods more than before. A lot of initiatives of the government can revive some of the industries. Constructions are going on, payments are going on. Although our income generation is at the lowest level, but it is within the resources that are available.

    “I think the government is managing the situation well, but it is also important that we change our attitude. We must have the right attitude to the recession and life generally. When we do this, whatever we have, no matter how small it is, will be sufficient for us to live a life that is good for us,” he said.

  • Recession: Why we need collective efforts, by Dogara

    Recession: Why we need collective efforts, by Dogara

    Speaker Yakubu Dogara yesterday called for collective effort in tackling Nigeria’s socio-economic challenges.

    Dogara spoke in Abeokuta, Ogun at a lecture organised as part of programmes for the 75th birthday celebration of Chief Alani Bankole, father of former Speaker of the House, Dimeji Bankole.

    He said that the challenges facing the nation were not novel, adding that many civilised countries had passed through similar situations.

    He said that men and women in such countries waged united and formidable wars against the challenges at such critical periods and surmounted them to attain greater heights.

    The speaker commended the federal government for the measures it had continued to take in ensuring that Nigeria came out of current recession.

    He lauded the call by the Governors’ Forum for a declaration of a state of emergency on the economic situation, adding that the National Assembly would come up with its position as soon as it reconvened.

    Dogara stressed the need for Nigerians to support the government and be united in tackling the challenges to fast-track the process of economic recovery.

    “The challenges are not novel because a lot of countries have passed through them.

    “It is always men and women of those generations that have stood up and solved the problems.

    “It is our collective responsibility to combat our challenges and I thank God that there is a rallying call from the governors for a national emergency,” he said.

    The guest lecturer, former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Dahiru Musdapher, expressed regrets that the nation had continued to face more divisions more than a year after the 2015 elections.

    Musdapher, who bemoaned the emergence of various restive groups across the country, said that the nation could not afford the cost of another “genocidal implosion’’.

    He spoke on the theme “The question of Nigerian unity.”

    Musdapher observed that tribalism, nepotism, religious bigotry, violence and corruption had made national unity a mirage.

    He said that in spite of various mechanisms created to deal with Nigeria’s socio-political ailments, the country’s unity had continued to be threatened with negative implications for its citizens.

    The former CJN noted that it would require a modicum of unity for Nigeria to make necessary policy interventions that would turn its economy around.

    He called on Nigerians to support the federal government in its fight against the challenges facing the nation.

    Former Ogun State governor Aremo Segun Osoba praised Bankole for being consistent.

    He described him as a reliable politician, who stayed true to his political convictions as a chieftain of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN) despite being unfairly treated during the build – up to the 1983 general elections.

    The celebrator, Chief Bankole said he would have celebrated his 70th birthday five years ago but abandoned the plan halfway following the prosecution of his son, Dimeji Bankole.

    He said he had to cancel plans for the celebration when his son, who just relinquished the Speakership, was arrested and prosecuted.

    He urged young politicians to practice politics of development, saying politics should not lead to hatred.

    Dignitaries at the celebration were Deputy Speaker Yusuf  Lasun; House Minority Leader Hon Oyenma Chuchu; Secretary to the State government, Taiwo Adeoluwa; Managing Director and Editor-In-Chief, Vanguard Media,  Gbenga Adefaye; ex – World Court Judge at Hague, Prince Bola ýAjibola;former Jigawa governor Sule Lamido;ýformer Minister of Sports Taoheed Adedoja, Oba of Lagos Rildwan Akinolu and Oliwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanwo among others.