Trade, industry: We implemented 60 reforms to diversify economy - Aganga

The immediate past Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, said over 60 reform programmes and 12 'games changers' were implemented in the last four years to diversify the revenue base of the nation's economy.

Aganga stated this while speaking at a send-off dinner organised in his honour by the ministry in Abuja on Thursday.

The minister said if the country was to continue on the path of industrialisation, then there was a need for the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to sustain the reforms initiated by the government of his predecessor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

He said abandoning the reform programmes would do the country no good as it would send a signal that the nation was not ready for the diversification of the economy.

Aganga said other countries that relied solely on oil had been able to diversify their economies by aggressively implementing key reforms for at least eight to nine years.

He said, 'We have implemented more than 12 game changers and more than 60 reforms to enable us diversify the economy and the revenue resources of the government so that we will no longer rely on oil alone.

'So, if there is only one wish, I will hope and pray that we continue strictly with the implementation of the industrial revolution plan. That is the only thing that will diversify the revenue sources of this country.

'Countries that rely only on one product that have successfully diversified have stayed on the same programme for eight to nine years. We need to keep to the same programme. We should not fall and move and change policies because we will never realise having to diversify the economy and revenue sources of the government.

'So, if it's only one thing I need to plead, let's stay on this part for the next eight or nine years. We have set the pace with the reforms, all that is needed is continued implementation and sticking to it for the next eight to nine years.'

Heads of parastatals under the MITI, who also spoke at the dinner, said Aganga had been able to transform the ministry to an enviable heights. - Punch.