12 September, 2016

In Korea, women gave their golds to their govt to sell so they could come out of their economic difficulty- Buhari's economic adviser

Special Adviser to President Buhari on Economic matters, Adeyemi Dipeolu, in an interview with Channels TV, says that for Nigeria to come out from its current economic recession, all hands must be on deck.

According to Dipeolu, when Korea faced economic recession in 1997/98, he saw pictures where the women in the country came out to give their gold to their government to sell so they could generate money and come out of their economic difficulties.


"We have to realize that economics is not Physics. You have to think flexibly around economics. You have to realize that certain policies may not give you the desired effects immediately. There may be time lag. There may be geographical differences. People character may differ. When Korea faced economic crisis in 1997/98, I saw pictures of women in thousands, coming out and giving their golds to their country so it can be sold so they can get out of this difficulty. So there are social dimensions to tackling problems. I think it is important to realize that all hands have to be on deck"he said
Dipeolu also refuted claims that there is lack of coordination between the economic team of the government
"It s not true that the economic team is not coordinated. The economic management team meets every week. Sometimes twice a week. Sometimes late at night deliberating and sharing views but as with all aspects, there are always interfaces that need to be properly managed. So the Central Bank has its own role, statutory. There is coordination but there are sometimes tension between policies because you have different policy objectives but you have to manage them to get the best balance and that is what the team meets regularly to debate and argue and say why don't we do it this way. So there is a lot of ongoing work and I think by and large, things will be resolved eventually"he said