Nigeria's new leader, General Mohammed Buhari, outlined his social and economic policies on January 5.Speaking at his first news conference five days after assuming power in a bloodless coup, the general said priority would be given to clearing the backlog of foreign debt while improving the lot of the ordinary people.He confirmed that his government would pursue negotiations for a 2.5 billion US dollar loan from the IMF (International Monetary Fund), started by the ousted civilian government of President Shehu Shagari.He said the money was needed to bail Nigeria out of a severe economic crisis caused by a slump in the country's main export, oil.About 90 per cent of Nigeria's foreign earnings come from oil.Earlier, General Buhari said economic mismanagement had prompted his takeover, and that Nigerians had to watch helplessly as President Shagari's government mishandled the economic crisis, causing high inflation.He said promised economic improvements were applied inadequately and imported food supplies to supplement domestic output were hoarded by corrupt officials or sold at very high prices.General Buhari also condemned the previous system of import licenses, allotted, he said, by favour, and not to the manufacturers and genuine importers who needed them.He said the people had been misled by the government and criticised it for failing to deal firmly with rising crime.General Buhari has also confirmed that Nigeria would remain a member of OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Export Countries), and hinted he would accept a devaluation of the currency, the naira if the IMF loan was given.
-
Short Summary
-
Description
-
Data
- Film ID:
- VLVACVNN5TVDCZ1WWFQWAOGW7NMSN
- Media URN:
- VLVACVNN5TVDCZ1WWFQWAOGW7NMSN
- Group:
- Reuters - Including Visnews
- Archive:
- Reuters
- Issue Date:
- 06/01/1984
- Sound:
- Unknown
- HD Format:
- Available on request
We always welcome comments and more information about our films.
All posts are reactively checked. Libellous and abusive comments are forbidden.