The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, SAN, has advocated the need for Nigeria to develop its own plan capable of effectively tackling the ongoing economic downturn in the country.

Fashola, who spoke while delivering a lecture on “Freedom from Fear, Choices before the New Generation” to mark the 42nd convocation of the University of Benin, Edo State, said that Nigerians must overcome their fears and use their natural resources to create solutions and improve their lives.

While addressing the graduating students, he said, “We will not pray our way out of recession; we will plan and produce our way back to prosperity and out of recession and you are the freshest, youngest and most energetic workforce we will have to work with.

“You are the new batteries to power the engine of growth of our country. Your choices must be clear, free from fear, not reckless but driven by analytical thought, questioning and probing and ultimately determined by convictions.”

According to him, young Nigerians must, like their counterparts in developed countries, free their minds from fear, rather than depend solely on spiritual answers to the problems facing the nation.

Also speaking at the event, the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, said that the right monetary, fiscal and structural policies would address the biting recession.

According to him, Nigerians should not use God as an excuse for failure, adding that one “must not attribute to God that which God has left for us.”

The emir, who is the chancellor of the university, said, “If you want to deal with a recession, there are things you have to do, which are set out in economics. You (should) go and do them. Put in the right monetary policy; put in the right fiscal policies; put in the right structural policies and the economy will grow.”

Meanwhile, latest reports from the National Bureau of Statistics, says Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP, has shrunk by 2.24 percent in the third quarter of 2016.

According to the report, the depreciation had worsened the country’s chances of getting out of recession in 2016.