Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Bagudu yesterday said President Bola Tinubu is steering the economy in the right direction.
He said the government was determined to stay the course on its economic reforms.
Bagudu made this assertion during the defence of his ministry’s 2025 budget estimates before the National Assembly Joint Committee on National Planning, chaired by Senator Yahaya Abdullahi and co-chaired by Isiaka Ibrahim, in Abuja.
He said Tinubu’s economic reforms were working and that the economy was on the path to full recovery.
Bagudu said: “President Bola Tinubu has steered the economy in the right direction, and we are determined to stay the course.
“Under the leadership of President Tinubu, and with your support, our economy has turned the bend and facing the right direction.
“The Renewed Hope Agenda Strategy of once and for all confronting our decades of underinvestment is working, and the positive trajectory is being sustained.”
According to him, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of more than three per cent for three successive quarters, compared to less than one per cent in industrialised countries, evidenced the increasingly positive impact of the administration’s reforms.
Bagudu listed other positive impacts, including recovery of the economy, deficit reduction, and non-recourse to ways and means beyond legal limits from over 6.1 per cent in 2023 to less than four per cent in 2024, which he said global business leaders and rating agencies had acknowledged.
“The reform strategy has enhanced the liquidity of the sub-nationals: States and Local Governments. Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) allocations to all tiers of government are on the increase.
“With the elimination of forex and fuel subsidies, among other reforms, the increase shall be sustained,” he said.
The Minister told the legislators that the Tinubu administration would generate the funds to finance the 2025 financial projections through innovative financing and line budget allocation.
He explained that the president had charged the petroleum, solid mineral and creative industry sectors with developing their potential.
Bagudu stressed that with the help of the National Assembly, his ministry, which he said was the chief marketer of Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and Agenda 2050 strategies, would implement innovative financing measures to expand economic activities and generate substantial revenue to fund ongoing critical infrastructure.
“As the chief marketer of the Renewed Hope Agenda and Agenda 2050 strategies, the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning is poised to intensify its innovative financing to take forward the delivery of the Renewed Hope infrastructure, including housing, roads and railway. “We shall more aggressively raise funding for our creative and high-impact programmes, including Renewed Hope Infrastructure Fund, Consumer Credit, National Agriculture Development Fund, Mortgage Fund, CNG Energy transition, Student Loans Fund, and support to nano and MSMEs,” he said.
He noted that in addition to the funds that would accrue from maintaining fuel and removing forex subsidies, the administration was determined to increase crude oil production beyond the estimated 2.06 barrels per day at a lower cost.
The minister said that as the Crude Oil Theft Committee ramps up its activities to contain crude theft, more funds will flow into the national treasury.
“Our ministry and agencies are leading many engagements to get more resources to finance critical infrastructure in your constituencies,” Bagudu told the legislators, explaining that there would be more spending with more revenues.
He urged legislators to pass the tax reform bills, saying their passage would smoothen the government’s path to achieving its 18 per cent revenue-to-GDP target.
He assured them that the Tinubu administration remained focused on achieving a higher growth rate that would include all this year.
Bagudu also spoke about the ministry’s bilateral and multilateral coordination mandate and said the economic reforms earned the appreciation and respect of the nation’s development partners.
He said many countries, including China, had comprehensively scaled up their relations and partnerships with Nigeria.
He emphasised that the ministry signed many high-impact agreements on behalf of the country last year, including five with China and six with the United Kingdom, the European Union, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.
He recalled that the German President, Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, visited Nigeria.
At the same time, President Tinubu visited several countries in the preceding year to project the stabilising effect of the economic reforms on the nation’s economy.
“Our country has done well. President Tinubu is leading the country in the best of ways. He has charged all of us, his ministers, to work for excellence and do everything we can to ensure that the nation generates a higher level of growth that will include all. We will,” Bagudu stated.
Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani and Minister of Solid Minerals Dr. Dele Alake also affirmed President Tinubu’s vision, knowledge and courage to reset Nigeria’s economy through various reforms and policies for the betterment of the citizenry.
The duo spoke yesterday at a one-day lecture in Kaduna, organised by Arewa Think Tank (ATT) on the theme; “Agricultural Perspective of Nigeria in the last 64 Years of Independence”.
According to the Minister, “When Tinubu became the governor of Lagos State in 1999, he introduced civil servants biometric register, but there were uproars because there were loopholes that some people were benefiting from.
“It is the same thing he is doing for Nigeria’s economy today, blocking the leakages, plugging the loopholes. And those who are benefiting from these loopholes are not going to fold their arms, they are going to resist.
“We are witnessing the resistance all over the country. But you need a man of courage to stay firm for justice. Because of Tinubu’s steadfastness, consistency and resilience, he waded through all those obstacles and resistance and turned around the economy of Lagos.
“Today, Lagos has the sixth largest economy in the whole of Africa. It is not by accident. It is by calculated and meticulous execution of those policies. Today, Lagos economy is one of the largest economies among 20 African countries.
“This is where Tinubu is taking Nigeria. We need to support Tinubu whom God has given the vision, knowledge and courage to take the country out of the quagmire we found ourselves in the last several decades.”
On his part, governor Sani acknowledged that the implementation of the president’s bold policies have not been without challenges and pains for Nigerians, but clarified that the pains are temporary.
He said with just a little more patience and perseverance ‘”we shall start reaping the fruits of the reforms. ‘’
“In fact, we are already turning the corner. The economy is fast improving. Very soon the positive impact of the reforms would be felt by Nigerians. What the President needs at this critical time is the support of our people,’’ he added.
“The Renewed Hope Agenda is President Tinubu’s visionary and transformative policy thrust, aimed at repositioning Nigeria as a global investment hub.
“The Agenda, which is anchored on the core pillars of democracy, development and diaspora engagement, is being vigorously pursued with courage and patriotic zeal,’’ he further said.
Governor Sani recalled that “at independence, agriculture was the mainstay of the Nigerian economy, with the three regions effectively utilizing resources from agriculture to build critical infrastructure and develop human capital.
He, however, lamented that due to the discovery of oil, agriculture was abandoned. “We are the poorer for it. We must return to agriculture and invest heavily in it. It holds the key to addressing the challenges of poverty, unemployment and insecurity,” Sani said.
The governor, however, maintained that “President Tinubu is already showing us the way. His administration has prioritised agriculture and is investing heavily in mechanization and empowerment of smallholder farmers.”
According to Sani, Tinubu’s investment in agriculture is unequalled in the history of administrations in Nigeria.
“Mr. President has equally been giving sustained assistance to sub-nationals in respect of funds and agricultural inputs. Mr. President recently made history by creating the Ministry of Livestock Development which holds the potential of making Nigeria the leading producer of livestock in Africa,’’ he added.
