Nigeria's economic downturn due to previous mismanagent: president

Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari has said the recent downturn of the economy was due to several years of mismanagement by previous governments of the West African country.

In a presidential statement made available to Xinhua on Tuesday, Buhari said his administration will, however, turn the fortunes of the oil-producing nation around by restructuring the economy.

The Nigerian leader also described the economic downturn as the price being paid for turning Nigeria into a mono-economy, saying the massive revenue which accrued to the nation from crude oil was poorly managed by previous governments.

"We refused to save for the rainy day. Now the rain is beating us. No money, no savings, nothing. And we are thoroughly wet from the rains," he said.

Buhari said part of his administration's plan to put the country on the right path was to stabilize the economy through the 2016 budget which was targeted at import substitution and export promotion; revitalization of the manufacturing sector, particularly to generate essential raw materials, create more jobs and to fast-track the implementation of various strategies to ease doing business and to attract more investors to Nigeria. Endit