Reforms are aimed at lifting Nigerians out of poverty

From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja

The Federal Government has said that its major goal in the various reform programmes is aimed at lifting Nigerians out of poverty in their millions.

Declaring the #31st Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) closed in Abuja, Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy Wale Edun stated that the overall aim and objective, strategy and policy of the Renewed Hope Agenda is to embark on massive execution of all the reforms.

“I will just emphasise that at the end of the day, the reforms must translate to better living standards. They must translate to lifting Nigerians out of poverty in their millions. That is the overall aim and objective, strategy and policy of the Renewed Hope Agenda.

“We will lean on these roles to sustain consensus, solve bottlenecks, crowding capital, and publish evidence that keeps everyone honest between now and by God’s grace, NES 32,” he said.

Edun further explained that the government would be transparent in the execution of the reforms as its commitment to Nigerians.

“The journey to a prosperous and inclusive Nigeria will be won by cadence and credibility. The cadence of regular delivery updates and the credibility that comes from measurable results from revealing data. So let us carry the discipline of this agenda,” the minister noted, adding that the government is striving to achieve a $1 trillion economy in 2030.

According to him, the state of the nation and state of the economy and the national development plans would address a strategic blueprint to head towards a $1 trillion economy.

“Those are difficult to do, and it takes determination, resilience and being willing to stay the course to come up with projects that are feasible with both the public and the private sector playing their effective roles. We will integrate the jobs and productivity insights that were agreed upon,” he noted.

Edun disclosed that reforming the tax regime is to produce more revenue for government at all levels.

On infrastructure, the government said that a number of key infrastructure projects are being put in place by governments at all levels.

“And we all know the trajectory of the states in particular. And I must say that the data do show that they are investing in capital expenditure, capital projects, but the overall aim is to draw in the private sector, give them the opportunity to take part in the domestic market and indeed in international market, based on the new competitiveness that we have in the Nigerian production sector, manufacturing sector and indeed industrial sector. So, within government, we will, as we have been charged, translate summit outputs into a single time-bound matrix that aligns with the summit objectives, sector specific reform strategies, inputs to the national medium term development plan, scalable sub-national models and strengthened private public partnerships,” he said.