The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu has said that contrary to popular belief, Nigeria is actually a poor country that requires the support of everyone to grow its economy.
The Minister who called on Nigerians and all stakeholders to join hands with the government to rebuild the ailling economy, noted that Nigeria with a national budget of only $20 billion cannot compete with the likes of Brazil which has $700 billion as its national budget. According to him there’s no way the country can build a stable economy with a budget of $20 billion.
Bagudu who was speaking during the launch of ActionAid Nigeria Strategy Paper in Abuja, said the choices to be made to revive the economy are not the preserve of government or anybody, but the collective.
He said Nigeria needs collaborative efforts of stakeholders to exit the economic crisis it has found itself in.
He said that President Bola Tinubu’s administration did not believe in a blame game but in rallying Nigerians to confront the country’s economic challenges.
“By doing so, we can transform our ways, we can localise the challenge, we can find that rather than being presumptuous and judgmental, we can collaborate and understand, localise the challenge and everyone can contribute to make it better, instilling a sense of hope and optimism,” he said.
The Minister said that rather than point fingers, it was better to appreciate that the crisis arose from several years of underinvestment in critical sectors of the economy and pointed out that the solution lay in sharing experiences with countries that had similar experiences but had rebounded.
Citing Indonesia and Brazil, with populations similar to Nigeria, Bagudu said both countries offered veritable examples of what the country should emulate if it would achieve the level of economic growth and development it desired.
He said, “Brazil’s federal budget is about $700 billion, and it has been like that for upwards of a decade. Nigeria’s federal budget now is about $20 billion, and maybe the highest it has been is about $35 billion.
“Do we want to be like Brazil, or do we want to be like Indonesia? Can we hope to achieve what they have achieved with that level of federal spending, or do we confront this reality?
“When you confront your reality, like gathering the family around and reminding everyone that we are not as rich as we think we are, maybe new energy will come into the family, and the sense of entitlement will give way to What I can do.”
Speaking against the background of the recent cost-of-living protests, the minister said Nigerians needed to understand that economic reform policies required the economy to be repositioned for domestic and foreign investment inflow.
He recognised the prevalence of poverty in the polity. Still, he said it could only be eradicated through concerted efforts of all levels of government working to include all strata of the society.
He said, “The ultimate end of social action is to include all, and local economies can be made to include all. This can only happen when we embrace cooperation, when we become less judgmental when we interrogate and challenge public officials to give more effort and guidance, and when we appreciate that we are not alone. Some of the challenges we are facing are global.
“But yet we can’t take luxury or comfort in that. We have to move quickly. So, we are humbled to come and interact so that we can all mobilise together to do better.”