Recession will end in Nigeria by the end of June, according to Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture

|  By Anayo Ezugwu  |  May 1, 2017 @ 16:35 GMT  |

THE federal government has assured Nigerians that the country is gradually getting out of recession.   At the biennial convention of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE, in Lagos on Saturday, April 29, Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, said going by a recent statement by the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, the country would exit recession by the end of June.

Mohammed, who was represented by Bayo Onanuga, managing director, News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, said there have been other pointers to the good news as well. “For two consecutive months, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, has also reported a fall in inflation rate. The exchange rate is regaining some sanity. As I said earlier, the worst appears to be over. We are clawing out of the woods of recession in weeks from now,” he said.

Mohammed said the Buhari administration with the collective will of Nigerians had shamed doomsday prediction that the recession could worsen into a depression. “I hope, in our various media, we shall begin to focus more on the positive developments in our economy, the growth in agriculture and mineral development since the NBS, last year, let out the secret that the Nigerian economy recorded a negative growth in the first quarter of 2016,” he said.

The minister said recession was not peculiar to the country. He said the United States of America had experienced 47 recessions, some regressing into depressions. “Between 1980 and 2007 alone, the American economy experienced five recessions. The last one in 2007 was caused by the subprime mortgage crisis and led to the collapse of the US housing bubble,” he said.

Mohammed urged the media to stop the blame game and educate Nigerians on the efforts being made to end recession. “Informing the people that the government is working hard to end recession will go a long way to give hope to the people. After all, it is said that if you keep hope alive, it will keep you alive.”

On his part, Emma Agu, former managing director, Champion Newspapers, urged the NGE to come up with capacity building programmes for its members to improve professionalism in media practice in the nation. Agu, who was the guest speaker at the convention, said the media should encourage professionalism over trade unionism in order to get the nation out of recession.

“Professionalism is the path to knowledge, respect and efficiency. To insist on trade unionism will continue to retard corporate growth, diminish individual ambition, breed quackery and erode respect. Like the accountants, lawyers and engineers, journalists in Nigeria should go the professional way.

“This entails a qualifying exam, a code of conduct and a set of sanctions for breaches of the code. By extension, it is in the interest of the media to have an effective media council that serves as an arbitrator in disputes,” he said.

Agu explained that capacity building for journalists was important, so as to equip them with adequate knowledge for proper information dissemination in order to shape the policies of government as well as properly inform the public. He said the topic, “A Nation in Recession: Whither the Nigerian Media,” was timely in addressing current challenges facing the media and the nation.

“If you asked many journalists the last time he or she attended a capacity building programme at the instance of his/her organisation, you will be shocked to your bone marrow at the response you will get. So, on what intellectual or professional basis is the person reporting in a rapidly changing environment? This, perhaps, is one of the benchmarks that should drive the incoming leadership of the NGE. The Guild should establish mandatory, periodic professional enhancement and capacity building programme as the accountants and engineers do.”

Agu said recession was not peculiar to Nigeria alone; adding that the media industry had began experiencing recession long before it hit the nation. He stressed the need for editors to be empowered to adequately confront issues affecting the nation and the industry. He called for restructuring of the nation to ensure healthy competition among the regions and to speed up the growth of the economy.

He commended the current monetary policies of the CBN, noting that they would effectively address the recession. Agu also commended the fight against insurgency in the North East, paving the way for the restoration of economic activities in most parts of the north east.

The veteran journalist said the constructive engagement with Niger Delta militants was also boosting oil production. He commended the President Muhammadu Buhari administration for continuing with the rail project initiated by the previous administration, adding that government was about continuity and the Buhari administration had demonstrated maturity in that regard.

He called on journalists to support the fight against corruption and the whistleblowing policy of the present administration, which according to him, was yielding results.

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