Minister says Nigeria is broke

He said this after a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting which was presided over by President Buhari at the villa.

The minister likened Nigeria’s situation to a man who earns N100,000 as salary, and suddenly his employer says he can only pay N30,000, adding that the man has to make some hard decisions to be able to survive.

Mohammed said “It is like somebody who has been earning N100,000 a month and he is faced with a situation where his employer says henceforth you will be earning N10,000 a month. He would need to make some very painful decisions and some very painful adjustments. That is the situation with Nigeria today.

“A few months ago, we were earning as much as $100 for every barrel of crude. In the months of February and March, we no longer have the resources, the foreign exchange to bring in refined fuel products. And our economy is shrinking.

“We appreciate the fact that the decision is going to affect everybody. We appreciate what we are going through, but Nigerians should also know that the government has the responsibility at times to take very difficult decisions. So, it is not always about popularity.”

Meanwhile, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Engr. Babachir David Lawal, reportedly said that corruption in the petroleum downstream sector led to the removal of oil subsidy.

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