Nasir El-Rufai, the former governor of Kaduna State, has acknowledged that Nigeria’s economy grew significantly during former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s second term in office.
On Friday, E-Rufai made this claim at a panel discussion at the Africa In the World conference in Stellenbosch, South Africa. He credited Obasanjo’s second term in office for Nigeria’s greatest period of economic progress.
From 1999 to 2007, El-Rufai worked as a minister under Obasanjo, the first democratically elected leader of Nigeria’s fourth republic.
According to the ex-governor, Obasanjo’s administration was economically successful because of careful planning, and they got lucky when the price of crude oil went up.
A planning commission does exist in Nigeria, but according to him, it has not been particularly efficient.
If you look at the history of Nigeria’s economy, you’ll see that the best four to five-year period of economic growth, job creation, and reduced inflation occurred during President Obasanjo’s second term, from 2003 to 2007. This was the first time in a long time that the country had returned to proper integrated planning.
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