Nasir El-rufai, a former Governor of Kaduna State, has explained why the second term of President Olusegun Obasanjo was the most successful in terms of economic growth, job creation, and inflation rate in Nigeria.
The former governor made this known while speaking at a session of the Africa In the World conference in Stellenbosch, South Africa on Friday.
“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,” he said.
El-rufai explained that it was during this period that oil prices began soaring up and that the Obasanjo led administration did not waste the windfall.
He said that Nigeria’s fiscal health was at its best in 2007 and when the global financial crisis hit in 2008, the country did not feel the sting.
“Nothing was felt in Nigeria because Nigeria had a big savings account,” he said.
He added that as at then, Nigeria had huge reserves and the government was able to absorb all the economic shock without any effect on the populace.
