•Blames previous administration for companies’ exit

The federal government is finalising a six-month emergency economic plan to revive the country’s ailing economy. The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, revealed this yesterday in Abuja during the sectoral report of President Bola Tinubu’s first year in office.

He said the President has already approved the initiative, saying: “A fresh intervention approval from Mr President today is the economic emergency plan for stabilising the economy and to be implemented over the next six months. This was put together by the president’s economic team, the private sector representatives and the sub-nationals.

“We have all sat together in recent weeks and we had a package from the President’s desk this afternoon for his approval. It was afternoon because it was this morning that we got the final clearance from a state governor who had said he wanted the final chance to review the inputs.

”With that clearance, we are now good to go in terms of the major economic plan for Mr President to approve.” Edun added that the FG now has the firepower to meet its debt obligations and pursue other economic policies without financial hindrances. The minister noted that the government has succeeded in ramping up its revenue generation to the point that it can now pay its obligations.

“We have now increased our revenue substantially and we can now take care of our obligations without resorting to Ways and Means. We have paid off the Islamic Development Bank. We have paid our equity in the construction of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway. One of the great things that this government has introduced to block revenue leakages is that we now pay our suppliers directly, no more through a third party,” he said. He expressed worry about investors’ exit from the country saying the government has eliminated knotty economic bottlenecks that discourage investment.

The minister also defended the President over what many have described as the poor state of the economy, including the closure of over 800 companies last year.He explained that the factors that led to the exit of the firms were deep-rooted such as foreign exchange (FX) instability, unfulfilled promises and breach of contracts.

He stated: “Our government inherits the assets and liabilities of the previous administration. The 800 companies or so did not make up their minds overnight. They stayed until they could stay no more. The conditions that send them packing are no more. Those conditions included a foreign exchange market that was in no way fit for business where there was no liquidity.

“They were the general economic regime marked by instability, broken promises, lack of adherence to contracts and so on. The new environment which investors face is one in which inflation is being attacked and eventually lead to lower interest rates where investors can use the very vibrant domestic market to add their equities and invest.”

With the GDP receding from 3.46 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2023 to 2.98 in the first quarter of 2024, Edun insisted that the economy is ‘growing’ when compared with the population growth rate which stands at 2.4 per cent.

“So, on balance, we can say that the President’s policy strategies and his programmes have turned the country in the right direction, upwards, growing,” he said.

The minister hinted that the policies and programmes of the Federal Government have attracted about $30 billion worth of investment in the last nine months.
He explained that the government is investing in agriculture because of its potential to tackle inflation thereby helping the fiscal authorities to stabilise the exchange rate.

He said the government is investing heavily in agriculture because it has the potential of pulling down inflation which will help the monetary authority to stabilise the exchange rate.

“The President’s reforms, strategies and programmes have turned the country in the right direction of growth,” he said, adding that the potential that agriculture has to help move the economy forward and reduce inflation has not yet been tapped.

“By the time the dry season harvest is over and the wet season production comes in, it is going to significantly bring down food inflation which is 50 per cent of headline inflation in the country.”

Also, in his presentations, the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, said agencies under his ministry increased their revenue generation by 95 per cent in the first quarter of 2024.

He noted that in the first quarter of 2024, the agencies under the ministry generated a combined revenue of N242.8 billion as against the N126.35 billion generated in the first quarter of 2023.

Oyetola said on the Ease of Doing Business, NPA and NIMASA have accomplished all Reform activities recommended under the 90-Day Regulatory Reform Accelerator prescribed by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) to boost transparency in the operations of the agencies and are progressing steadily with regards to the Ease of Doing Business.