Osinbajo Says N7trn 2017 Budget Won’t Make Significant Difference In Nigerian Economy

Source: thewillnigeria.com

BEVERLY HILLS, December 02, (THEWILL) – The Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo has revealed that about N7 trillion has been budgeted for the 2017 fiscal year, but regretted that the huge amount will not make a major difference in Nigeria's N90 trillion economy.

He stated this on Thursday during a tour of some firms in Sagamu, Ogun State, where he pointed out that the budget for 2016 and 2017 cannot make the needed difference, hence the need for the private sector to come in to help the nation achieve its dreams.

The Vice President stated that the private sector has a major role to play in the nation's economy while the Federal Government will only serve as a catalyst.

Stressing that the Federal Government believes that its economic agenda cannot be delivered without a serious partnership with the private sector, he stated that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari believes in the private sector, and would rely partner with it to drive growth.

Osinbajo said that the current government was determined to diversify the economy as it is the right thing to do for Nigeria to be “properly independent economically”.

According to him, “Our entire budget size for 2016 is something in the order of just over N6trn, and we will probably be moving to about N7trn in the 2017 budget. But N7trn is certainly not the kind of money… it does sound like a fair amount of money, but certainly it's not the kind of size that can really make a huge difference in a N90trn economy such as we have.

“So the real issue is that the contribution of the federal government is catalytic; the federal government can only make some catalytic contributions in terms of infrastructure, and some incentives for the private sector.

“The real contribution is going to come from the private sector and that's why these partnerships are absolutely important to us, and what we are looking at is some game-changing type of projects, such as we have here.”

Osinbajo, who disclosed that he was undertaking a tour of firms to see how government can partner with the private sector to drive growth, said: “It's because we are definitely trying to identify those industries and those enterprises that can really help in bringing that to pass.

“Anyone who knows the pedigree of the chairman of Honeywell will agree that he is one of those who has contributed to the indigenous growth of the Nigerian economy very seriously over the years.

“The federal government very strongly believes that there is no way of delivering on our economic agenda without a serious partnership with the private sector.”