Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is optimistic on the country’s economy, the largest in Africa, despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Buhari says the pandemic has had a “moderate” effect in the country compared to other economies around the world.
Nigeria heavily relies on oil revenues and the economy has been struggling following the sharp fall in global oil prices.
Many Nigerians are complaining of massive job losses and extreme poverty.
Mr Buhari, in a televised address to mark Democracy Day, said the government is employing 700,000 people under a Special Public Works Programme to build roads and clean up the environment.
In April the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved $3.4bn emergency funding for Nigeria, the largest loan to an African country to assist in dealing with the pandemic.
But there are ongoing discussions to cut basic healthcare budget by almost half, as the country struggles with the pandemic.
President Buhari also said he was upset by the recent spike of gender-based violence, describing the incidents as “heinous crimes” and assured that the perpetrators would be brought to justice.
