El Rufai reveals President whose term Nigeria enjoyed most successful period of economic growth

Nasir El-Rufai, the immediate past governor of Kaduna state, has described the second term (2003-2007) of former President Olusegun Obasanjo as the “most successful”.

El Rufai rated Obasanjo’s tenure high in areas of job creation, economy, and inflation rate in Nigeria. El-Rufai served in the eight-year administration of Obasanjo as Director-General, Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE), and later as minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Per The Cable, the All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain stated that Nigeria returned to “proper integrated planning and we also got lucky” during Obasanjo’s second term.

Speaking on Friday, September 15, at the Africa In the World conference in Stellenbosch, South Africa, the 63-year-old stressed the need for adequate planning if any country intends to grow.

He said:

“If you look at Nigeria’s economic trajectory, the most successful four to five-year period of economic growth, job creation, and reduced inflation was the period of the second term of President Obasanjo in 2003 to 2007, when for the first time, the country went back into proper integrated planning and we also got lucky.

“Oil prices began to rise but we did not waste the windfall because we had planned. We had an excess crude account (ECA) that was based on fiscal rule that any surpluses above a certain benchmark price of crude oil goes to that savings account.”