President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, March 10th, 2020 said that the global Coronavirus outbreak was affecting Nigeria’s major source of revenue. He made this statement while speaking on the impact of the deadly COVID-19 on the country’s revenue for the first time as he was receiving health workers under the aegis of Joint Health Sector Unions and Assembly Healthcare Professionals Associations.

On Monday, March 9th, 2020, the Federal Government announced the possibility of an impending plan to minimize the N10.6tn 2020 budget, as a result the impact of the Coronavirus outbreak on the global crude oil price.

Buhari, while addressing members of JOHESU and AHPA, appealed to health workers to bear with the Federal Government in their demands as it tackles the effects of coronavirus outbreak on the economy.

Your case is certainly receiving attention, but you must bear in mind the condition that the country is in now. Coronavirus is not improving matters. It is affecting what we very much depend on, the petroleum industry and therefore revenue,

he said in a statement by his media aide, Garba Shehu.

The president also urged them to appeal to their members in these trying times and continue to work for further development of Nigeria.

So, please try and help us with your people. Let us be patriotic, let us look at the ways and means of the government and appeal for restraint…We have to emphasize that it is very important we maintain cohesion together, because if we allow sentiments or popularity to overwhelm our reasoning faculties, we will be in trouble and it will be too late for us to adjust, so please bear with us,

said the President.

He said his administration’s successful wins for food sufficiency in the last four years would be brought to mind now with the drop in government revenue.

We thank God; God is very sympathetic to us. The three previous rainy seasons were good. We had good foresight in getting fertiliser, making it available and we virtually achieved food security. We made good decisions, and we saved hundreds of millions of dollars on importation of food. If not, we would have been in real trouble,

he added.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.