Economy back on track, but not yet where we want to be- Bagudu
Minister of Budget and Economic Planning Abubakar Bagudu has emphasised significant measures that are steadily setting the country’s economy for sustained recovery and growth as President Bola Tinubu’s administration marks two years in office.
Aminu Suleiman, a member of the recently established North West Development Commission (NWDC), urged Nigerians to be patient with Tinubu, saying that his two years in government have had a greater impact than the eight years of the previous administration.
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Similarly, Nigerian philanthropist and businessman Abdul Samad Rabiu urged the UK and its Western allies to deepen their ties with Africa’s most populous nation, claiming that broad economic reforms put the nation firmly on the path to recovery and international importance.
Speaking on Saturday night after visiting Tinubu in his Lagos residence, Bagudu commended the administration’s economic policies, stating that Nigeria “is beginning to reap the fruits” of long-overdue structural changes.
“We are not where we want to be,” Bagudu admitted, “but these steps have turned the economy in the right direction.”
“Decades of underinvestment brought Nigeria to a point where even paying salaries was difficult,” he said. “By cutting these subsidies, we freed up resources. Today, states and local councils have nearly tripled the funds they had before. That’s transformative.
“There is a visible return of private capital, both domestic and international. Investors are taking Nigeria seriously again. They see a government that is making tough but necessary choices” he added.
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Shortly after honouring the President during Sallah at his home in Ikoyi, Lagos, Suleiman spoke to reporters and commended Tinubu’s leadership, stating that the President was establishing the foundation for lasting change.
Additionally, Suleiman praised Tinubu’s participation of the North-West in his development program, especially the NWDC’s creation.
Rabiu said in a piece published over the weekend in The Telegraph that Nigeria has accomplished significant structural reforms that have established it as a leader in market reform on the continent.
“Nigeria has decisively turned a corner, embracing market economics under a liberalising government,” he wrote
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The BUA Group founder cited several significant reforms implemented under Tinubu, such as the elimination of fuel subsidies, the deregulation of the foreign exchange system, and the renewed initiative to end political meddling in business.
“These reforms are not cosmetic. They are foundational,” he stressed.
The government’s decision to eliminate the fuel subsidy, which he claimed had devoured more than 15% of the federal budget by 2023, was the most important reform for the economy in the nation’s recent history, according to Rabiu.
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