The federal government is planning to create a $25 billion fund through public and private sector financing with the aim of modernizing infrastructure and avoiding a recession, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo revealed yesterday.

The halving of oil prices since last year has forced Nigeria, Africa’s largest producer of crude, to slash its budget and led to a weakening of its currency, the Naira.

Standard & Poor’s has also downgraded the country’s credit rating, while JP Morgan Chase & Co. removed Nigeria from its local currency emerging market indexes.

“We think that the way out of this, what some have described as an impending recession, is actually to spend rather than to cut back in any way,” Osinbajo, said in an interview in Abuja.

Credit: Leadership