Tuesday, March 05, 2024 – President Bola Tinubu says Nigeria’s economy is not distressed, emphasizing that the current circumstances are not beyond repair.
President Tinubu said this at the 16th
edition of the Leadership 2023 conference and Awards in Abuja today March 5.
The President who was represented by the
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris said
indeed Nigeria is facing some challenges but it is not helpless.
“I should start by respectfully
challenging the notion that the Nigerian economy is in distress. Distress
suggests helplessness, being at the mercy of something we have no control over.
But that is not the case here.
We are in challenging times, no doubt, but
these times have also been marked by unprecedented opportunities, to reset
course and to build a new and sustainable economy, away from the rent-seeking
and the waste that was once the order of the day.
The Leadership Group has itself alluded to
the “difficult but necessary” decisions that we have taken. Since the removal
of petrol subsidies, our imports of petrol have dropped by about 50 percent,
which translates to roughly 1 billion litres of petrol every month, according
to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics.
In addition, the revenues accruing to the
three tiers of Government – Federal, State, and Local – have grown by between
50 percent and 100 percent since the removal of the petrol subsidy. This means
more funds are available to directly impact the lives of Nigerians through
investments in critical infrastructure, social security, and other areas.
For example, the additional funding we are
receiving is going into a new minimum wage for which negotiations have started,
between the Federal and State Governments and Organized Labour. I have approved
the disbursement of N200 Billion Naira, through three (3) new special
intervention funds established to support Nigerian businesses.
The first is a 50 Billion Naira Presidential
Conditional Grant Scheme (PCGS) that will provide business grants and loans to
traders, food vendors, transport workers, ICT businesses, creatives, and
artisans. Verification of all submitted applications is ongoing, and
disbursements will commence through the Bank of Industry (BOI) as soon as this
verification is completed.
The second is a 75 Billion Naira FGN MSME
Intervention Fund that will provide single-digit-interest loans to our MSMEs.
The third is a 75 Billion Naira FGN Manufacturing Sector Fund targeting
manufacturing businesses, with selected beneficiaries eligible to access up to
1 Billion Naira each.
In addition, our new Federal Student Loan
program will take off within the next few weeks, providing interest-free
financing not just for students in our tertiary institutions but also covering
those in vocational and skill acquisition programs as well. For the poorest and
most vulnerable among us, the Social Investment Programme, currently under
review to reposition it for maximum impact, will support millions of households
with direct cash transfers that will enable them to meet their basic needs.
I have approved 100 Billion Naira for a
Presidential Initiative on CNG, which will deliver CNG-powered buses and engine
conversion kits. Let me ask Nigerians for a little more patience as we await
the imminent rollout of these CNG-powered buses which will bring down the cost
of transportation by as much as 50 percent.
In the area of food security, I am pleased
to say that our dry season farming program which kicked off with wheat in
November 2023 is well on course, and we are already set for the first round of
harvest. We have received tremendous support from partners like the African
Development Bank (AfDB) in this regard. As part of our own commitments as a
Government, I have approved 100 Billion Naira for the National Agricultural
Development Fund for the year 2024, while we have commenced the repositioning
of the Bank of Agriculture to better deliver on its mandate.”
The president further shared some numbers to
buttress that the reforms and other steps taken by the administration were
on the right track.
“Since we assumed office in May 2023,
we have attracted $30 billion in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
commitments into the real sectors of the economy, including Manufacturing,
Telecoms, Healthcare, Oil & Gas, and others. Those investments have already
started coming into the country
Just a few days ago, I was in Qatar on an
official visit, where the Emir assured me that a senior government delegation
would visit Nigeria after Ramadan, to begin taking action on some of the new
investments they are looking at here. I have asked the Minister of Finance and
Coordinating Minister of the Economy to directly interface with the Qatari
authorities to ensure that speedy progress is made.
The Nigerian economy saw a better than
anticipated performance in the last quarter of 2023, growing by 3.46%
(year-on-year), compared with 2.54% in the preceding quarter. Capital
Importation into Nigeria was up 66% in Q4 2023, reversing a 36% decline in the
previous quarter.
In January 2024, the Nigerian Stock Exchange
All Share Index (ASI) crossed the 100,000 points mark, its highest ever.
There is no one who looks at this data who
will conclude that “distressed” is the accurate way to describe the Nigerian
economy. Yes, we are challenged in a number of ways. But these are the outcomes
of necessary reforms, and a lot of effort and energy is going into alleviating
these pains and setting the economy on firm footing.
And we are seeing incredible opportunities
for investment in every sector of the economy, as we stabilize our foreign
exchange market and our macroeconomic indices.
I ask for the continuing patience and support of all Nigerians, including the elite that is very well represented in this room today. To the Nigerian media, I urge you to strive to report not only the challenges but also the solutions and the opportunities as well. Ours is a story of a country that is taking the right steps, and feeling the fleeting pains that will come with this course of action. A glorious dawn is indeed assured.”
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