We have no money to import food, Buhari tells Nigeria

President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria has announced that his government does not have the money to import food and urged farmersto get back to work to produce food for the country.

The president made these comments after lamenting the impact of the novel coronavirus disease on Nigeria’s economy, following measures imposed by his government to contain the epidemic.

In cities such as Abuja and Lagos, the country’s commercial hub, businesses were shut for more than four weeks. Restrictions finally eased from 4 May onwards.

Interstate travel at a standstill

Despite the easing of restrictions on movement, interstate passenger travel remains banned across the country and schools and restaurants are still closed.

Nigeria was to proceed to a second phase of easing restrictions last week, but the task force in charge said the country was not yet ready to reopen the economy fully.

President Buhari announced that he would fast privately with his family for Ramadan, respecting restrictions introduced nationwide to help contain the coronavirus disease.

The president opted on Sunday for private Eid prayers at State House in Abuja, as opposed to the usual grand celebrations held each year. He urged Nigerians to follow Ministry of Health guidelines to prevent the spread of virus.

West Africa’s highest

On Sunday Buhari expressed concern about the rising number of cases of the novel coronavirus in Nigeria. The confirmed case count for Africa’s largest economy is the highest in West Africa, at 8,068 with 2,311 recoveries and 233 deaths.

Nigeria has so far tested 44,458 persons since the beginning of the pandemic. A breakdown of the confirmed cases so far shows that out of the total 8,068 cases confirmed, 5,524 are active.

Public health officials offered a breakdown of the cases confirmed:

Lagos State – 3,595

Kano – 919

Federal Capital Territory – 519

Katsina – 335

Borno – 255

Oyo – 244

Jigawa – 241

Ogun – 240

Bauchi – 232

Edo – 191

Kaduna – 189

Gombe – 148

Rivers – 121

Sokoto – 116

Plateau – 95

Kwara – 79

Zamfara – 76

Yobe – 47

Delta – 46

Nasarawa – 46

Osun – 44

Ebonyi – 33

Imo – 33

Kebbi – 32

Niger – 28

Adamawa – 27

Ondo – 23

Akwa Ibom – 24

Ekiti – 20

Taraba – 18

Enugu – 18

Bayelsa – 12

Anambra – 10

Abia – 7

Benue – 5

Oil price plunge

Buhari’s description of the economy reflects comments last week by the Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed that the country’s economy would go into recession soon.

Nigeria is one of the countries hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic. A large part of the national budget is funded by income from oil, which makes up over 90% of its export revenue. The sharp drop in oil prices globally has reduced the country’s income drastically.

Nigeria also closed down a large part of the economy to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. All the country’s airports remain closed to everything other than essential flights and most businesses are still operating on part-time hours only.

The International Monetary Fund predicts that the combined economy of the African continent will contract by 1.5 percentage points in 2020.

Fred Dzakpata

* Asaase Radio 99.5 FM. Coming soon — tune in or log on to live streaming.

* Twitter: @asaaseradio995