Excitement in Aso Rock, APC as Nigeria becomes Africa's largest economy

The ruling party noted that the achievement was not a fluke but a product of deliberate practices and policies of President Muhammadu Buhari's administration.

Nigeria became the African continent's biggest economy after overtaking South Africa, which has entered the second recession in two years.

In a statement in Abuja by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, APC said the new continental economic status was a rewarding and fitting economic scorecard of President Buhari's administration.

It noted that "since the Nigerian economy exited recession in 2017, the country's economic growth has not been a fluke but a result of deliberate practices and policies of the President Buhari administration, which has increased transparency in governance, diversification of the economy away from oil, improved fiscal management, and a healthy protectionist approach, which has aided the growth and increased the capacity of domestic producers and in turn created jobsÔÇØ

He added: "The hugely successful anti-corruption efforts, such as implementation of a Treasury Single Account (TSA), which allows the government to better track and manage its resources and a more transparent government payroll and personnel system that eliminated duplication and 'ghost workers', has alleviated poverty and made more cash available for critical infrastructure projects.ÔÇØ

The party stressed that despite the dwindling resources resulting from the fall in oil prices, the country had continued to witness economic growth.

"The fact that we are making commendable progress with all the challenges shows this government is doing the right thing.

There is no doubt about the determination of the Buhari government to continue to take the right steps to create jobs, grow the economy, create a secure environment, massively develop our infrastructure and develop our other resources through focused and well-reasoned diversification policies,ÔÇØ APC said.

The party advised the country's teeming youths to embrace and support government's finance, ease of doing business, and other services to enable them release their latent creative energies.