The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun,
has warned that for Nigeria to outlive the present economic difficulties, it
must be disciplined in its expenditure, invest in capital and diversify the
economy.
The minister spoke at a town hall
meeting organized by the Ministry of Information and Culture in collaboration
with the Alumni Association of the National Institute yesterday in Abuja.
Adeosun said the current challenges
in Nigeria could have happened anywhere, given that the economy was heading in
this direction consistently in the past 7 to 8years.
She said while the growth in GDP was not inclusive, there was an outrageous
increase in debt while only 10% of the budget was allocated to capital
expenditure.
She said what was first done when
she came into office was to attack the problem of recurrent expenditure because
the country was paying N165bn every month on salaries until it was slashed to
N159bn as a result of discrepancies and also from activities of ghost workers
which she said was still being investigated.
Also speaking, the Minister of
Budget, Senator Udo Udoma ,said 34 key actions were set out within the
time frame of the budget implementation including low interest spending.
The Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu
Sa’ad Abubakar, urged policy makers to initiate policy changes and be open to
suggestions from all angles. He said the realization of the budget relied on
the effective impact of its implementation, adding that the time for government
to get it right was now since it was never short of robust policies to
implement.
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