President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday expressed concern about the country’s economic challenges.

He listed high population, COVID-19 pandemic, and separatist agitations as major factors fueling the country’s economic challenges.

The President, according to a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, stated this during a meeting with members of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) at the State House, Abuja.

He said the challenges exist despite the five percent economic growth recorded in the second quarter of 2021.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had on August 26 announced a 5.1 percent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for Nigeria in the second quarter of this year.

He said: “The global economy has been seriously affected by the pandemic, and despite recent pleasing news of more than five percent economic growth for Nigeria in the last quarter, we are still having fiscal challenges to deal with like most other countries.

“The source of revenue that Nigeria has depended on for so long experienced global decline, our population is rising fast and the tension arising from both is fuelling agitation among our youth. Organizations like the NMA could play a very useful moderating role in society.”