TheCable

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday said the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) killed the naira.

Ibrahim Babangida, former military president, instituted SAP between 1986 and 1988.

However, during an interactive session with BBC, Buhari traced the origin of the problem facing the Nigerian currency to the administration that succeeded his in the military era.

Below are excerpts of the interview tweeted by Sam Piranty, a BBC journalist:

Structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) consist of loans provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) to countries that experienced economic crises.

. @MBuhari ‘I went through devalue in 1984…it’s SAP that killed the naira’ #Nigeria

— Sam Piranty (@sampiranty) February 5, 2016

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. @MBuhari ‘i have asked gov central bank & others to sit and see if they can convince me to murder of naira’ #nigeria

— Sam Piranty (@sampiranty) February 5, 2016

. @MBuhari ‘it’s disgraceful Nigeria imports toothpicks, rice and tomato purée’ #Nigeria #economy

— Sam Piranty (@sampiranty) February 5, 2016

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. @MBuhari ‘most of young people can’t get jobs. One of the biggest dangers we face’ #nigeria

— Sam Piranty (@sampiranty) February 5, 2016

Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) typically consist of loans provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to countries experiencing economic crisis, but the conditionality clauses attached to the loans have been severely criticiaed because of their effects on the social sector.