The Acting President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has said that the Federal Government’s budget of N7 Trillion for year 2017 is insufficient to adequately cater for speedy economic development in the country.
Prof. Osinbajo made this known while speaking at a meeting he held with delegates from the Nigerian Initiative for Economic Development (NEID), United States (U.S.), at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said, “Our budget is N7 trillion this year. Now, N7 trillion is a small amount of money. I am not adding the budget of the states because if you add that, it comes to something close to N20 trillion. But just looking at the federal budget, it is just N7 trillion.
“That’s why we are working so hard on making the investment climate profitable and easy for those who are doing business already. Because we believe that those who are doing business already will invariably bring in those who want to do business from outside the country, foreign investment and so on.
He added that “The truth of the matter is that any country that opens itself to free enterprise, the way Nigeria is opening itself to free enterprise, will somehow find that it will work, and that is one of the critical things that we are bringing into the mix,”
The Acting President said that was why the present administration was working hard at creating an enviroment that would encourage free enterprise and he said interested parties and investors should fully key into and take the advantages offered by such new business opportunities.
He cited the agricultural industry as one with vast opportunities waiting to be tapped into and asked the private sector to invest in and make profit from such industries.
He also mentioned power as one of the key industries with a huge ROI.
He said “This is a country of 180 million people and in another 10 years’ time, we are probably going to be the sixth or seventh largest country in the world.
There is no way we are not going to need power, whether it is off-grid power or on-grid power. Power is required by everyone where we have a major power deficit. So, we are going to open up that power sector and anyone who invests in power sector will definitely make money. No question. It is going to be much bigger and better than telecom,”
