All Hands Must Be on Deck to Exit Economic Crisis – Budget Minister

Nigeria needs collaborative efforts of stakeholders to exit the economic crisis it has found itself in, minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu, has said.

“These choices we need to make to revive the economy are not the preserve of the government or anybody but the collective,” he said.

Bagudu spoke at the launch of ActionAid Nigeria Country Strategy Paper in Abuja on Wednesday and emphasised 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 localize the challenge; we can find that rather than being presumptuous and judgmental, we can collaborate and understand, localize the challenge, and everyone can contribute to making 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 nation 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 has been 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.”