Nigerian recession has a simple solution according to Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote. In an interview with CNBC, he has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to embark on a wave of asset selling to boost the recession-hit economy.


"I think the real challenge for us is now for us to have the political will in terms of selling some assets such as the NLNG(Nigerian Liquefied and Natural Gas) among others,” Dangote said.

"I think it’s an easier route than the IMF (International Monetary Fund) or the World Bank to borrow money, because what you need to do is actually to beef up the reserves."

Aliko Dangote made the statement before Nigeria’s credit rating was downgraded to B from B+ by S&P Global Ratings on Friday.

"Nigeria’s economy has weakened more than we expected owing to a marked contraction in oil production, a restrictive foreign exchange regime and delayed fiscal stimulus," S&P said in a report on the downgrade.