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Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has alleged that Nigeria went into recession under former President Goodluck Jonathan but that the government only covered it up by saying it was cash-strapped.
Amaechi said this on the Osasu Show on Tuesday.
Amaechi, who was the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum during Jonathan’s regime, alleged that Okonjo-Iweala, begged him to stop saying Nigeria was broke in order not to drive away investors from the country.
According to Amaechi, the economy went into a recession due to excessive borrowing.
His words:
“People just pick up words without knowing what words mean. Even under Goodluck we went into recession”.
“I am one of those who participated in the budget. We looked at what happened in the past and we discovered that actually if recession means three times (three quarters of negative economic growth), we have done more than the three times before we came in”
“The difference is that while our government is transparent and open, we are able to admit that, federal government was saying even to me as chairman of governor’s forum, ‘Amaechi, don’t say that again’.