El-Rufai Praises Obasanjo’s Economic Success During Second Term
About The Author
Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has lauded the economic achievements of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s second term in office. Obasanjo, who led Nigeria from 1999 to 2007, saw remarkable economic growth, job creation, and inflation control during this period.
Readership NG learnt that El-Rufai, who also served as a minister under Obasanjo, highlighted that Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, witnessed a period of economic prosperity from 2003 to 2007. He shared these insights during a session at the Africa In the World conference in Stellenbosch, South Africa, attributing this success to effective integrated planning and a stroke of good fortune.
Furthermore, El-Rufai emphasized the importance of robust planning for sustainable economic growth, noting that while Nigeria has a planning commission, its effectiveness has room for improvement.
“If you look at Nigeria’s economic trajectory, the most successful four to five-year period of economic growth, job creation, and reduced inflation was the period of the second term of President Obasanjo in 2003 to 2007, when for the first time, the country went back into proper integrated planning and we also got lucky.
“Oil prices began to rise, but we did not waste the windfall because we had planned. We had an excess crude account (ECA) that was based on fiscal rule that any surpluses above a certain benchmark price of crude oil go to that savings account.
“And with that, we were able to get rid of all our foreign debt.”
According to him, Nigeria’s fiscal vigour was at its best in 2007, such that when the global financial crisis took place in 2008, “Nigeria did not feel anything.”
“Nothing was felt in Nigeria because Nigeria had a big savings account; we had huge reserves, and we were able to absorb the shock without any internal problems unlike most countries,” he added.
