The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, has revealed the government’s blueprint to reset Nigeria’s economy with structured borrowing, targeted investment and diversified growth. Speaking to some of the country’s most influential captains of industry, in Lagos at the Lagos Business School breakfast meeting, Adeosun said: “We have inherited a set of conditions that requires us to refine how we collectively work towards ushering in a new era in Nigeria.In the past, we had the means but not the will. Now we have the will but we no longer have the money to invest. The safety blanket of oil has been ripped away, laying the poverty of Nigeria’s institutions bare.
“We have spent too many years tinkering at the edges of our institutions, our infrastructure and our economy and that the mistakes and misjudgements of the last 40 years have set our clocks back by decades. We must collectively adopt a blueprint that equips the future generations to be creative and dynamic, that allows us to articulate a vision of a Nigeria, with a strong educational foundation; rich in depth of knowledge with a breadth of skills, an expansive infrastructure capable of servicing the needs of a nation of 150 million Nigerians.”
The minister further detailed what she described as an “expansionary budget for investment and growth” that “We must find the money, and create a system that enables targeted expenditure, based on the nation’s priorities. This expenditure will be efficient and impactful, focused on creating wealth for the majority. We are committed to a countercyclical budget expenditure model. This has been a success in other nations, offsetting the risk of recession and creating an economy which is not based on either fragile consumer spending or over-reliance on oil.We must safeguard this borrowing, ensuring that the wastages within the existing systems are firmly addressed. We cannot mortgage our future based on a system that has failed us for generations. We must be careful in our borrowing and prudent in utilization.”
