El-Rufai also said Nigeria had a huge reserve which helped absorb shock during the period
By Kehinde Okeowo
All Progressives Party (APC) chieftain and immediate past Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, has argued that former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration had the best economic growth since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999.
According to the former governor, the second term of Obasanjo was the “most successful” in terms of economic growth, job creation, and inflation rate in Nigeria.
El-Rufai made this known on Friday during a session at the Africa In the World conference in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
He said: “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,”
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The former FCT minister went on during his speech at the event to say oil prices began to rise during the period but the former president and his government did not waste the windfall.
He further claimed Nigeria’s fiscal health was at its best in 2007, such that when the global financial crisis took place in 2008, the country did not feel it.
“Nothing was felt in Nigeria because Nigeria had a big savings account,” he said.
El-Rufai added that Nigeria had huge reserves then and that the government was able to absorb the shock without much socio-economic problems.
