West Africa bloc urges Nigeria, others to reform economies

A West African bloc called on Nigeria and other countries to undergo “necessary structural reforms” to improve their economies, as a collapse in oil and commodity prices continues to cripple economic growth.

Nigeria and other member countries should “take appropriate economic and financial stimulus measures in order to be less vulnerable to commodity price fluctuations and improve their economies’ resilience to exogenous shocks,” said the Economic Community of West African States, meeting in the Nigerian capital on Saturday.

Nigeria, which depends on oil for roughly 70 percent of government revenues, entered its first recession in a quarter of a century this year, as crude prices slumped.