Nigeria: Soludo – Obama’s Energy Policy, Threat to Nigeria

Twenty-four hours after Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States of America, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Professor Chukwuma Soludo, has warned that the energy policy of the new administration may spell doom for the Nigerian economy.

He said Obama’s proposed vigorous search for alternative energy to drive the world’s largest economy poses “great dangers” for Nigeria whose economy is highly dependent on revenue from oil.
“With the Obama government proposing to invest heavily on alternative energy sources, there is a permanent threat to oil as mainstay of the Nigerian economy. Unless we take urgent steps to address the situation by also finding an alternative to oil as the mainstay of our economy, we might be back to the similar crisis we witnessed in 1982 when the price of oil crashed, government revenue declined and it became difficult for government at all levels to pay salaries. There was also the abandoned projects syndrome, increased import of almost anything until government was forced to place a ban on foreign currency trafficking because it was being abused,” he said.

AllAfrica