TheCable

Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, says the federal government has “a clear plan to fix the economy”, which includes “training 500,000 unemployed graduates as teachers”.

Speaking when he appeared as a guest on Sunrise Daily, a breakfast programme on Channels Television, Mohammed expressed optimism that the current administration would take Nigeria out of its present economic challenges.

“We have made provision for massive social intervention,” he said.

“We have put aside N500 billion for artisan, market women, traders and other people to become self-reliant. We have made provision for 500,000 unemployed graduates to be trained as teachers.”

He added that gone were the days when government relied solely on oil, and lamented the effect of the sharp decline in the prices of oil.

“The federal government has a clear plan to fix the economy. There is hope and this government is determined to take the country out of its current economic difficulties,” he said.

“The government has a very clear policy on the economy despite the challenging outlook. Although the price of crude oil is recovering slowly, we have learnt our lessons and we are not going to depend solely on crude again as the mainstay of the economy.

“Our fiscal policy is very clear. We are going to have a budget stimulus which will put money back in the economy.

“Our economic plan is to ensure that more money is put into infrastructure and at the same time that we provide infrastructure that will stimulate diversification into other areas – agriculture, solid minerals and manufacturing.

“Anybody who studies our budget will see clearly where the government is going. This government is going to steer the country out of its economic depression and that is why our budget concentrated more on capital projects which can reflate the economy.”