The nature of the current crisis is not new for Nigeria. It has been caught out before by crashing oil prices, writes DIANNA GAMES

Published in Finweek, 12 March 2015

Nigeria’s finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has tried to put a brave face on the multiple challenges that Africa’s biggest economy now faces in the wake of a plunge in the price of crude oil – the source of 80% of the nation’s revenues.

Late last year, when the damage became apparent, she told the nation not to panic. “Panic is not a strategy. We are managing the situation to keep the economy on a stable sustainable course and we will not listen to those who want us to throw up our hands in despair and give up.”
But the indomitable Okonjo-Iweala is shouldering the burden of trying to make ends meet with rapidly dwindling funds.

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