The Federal Government on Tuesday gave itself a pat on the back for having done so creditably to the extent that in the last three years, as much as 40 million Nigerians were comfortable enough to own cars.
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who made this known in Abuja yesterday, said: “the improvement in the economic situation of Nigerians based on concrete steps has led to a situation where about 40 million Nigerians are comfortable to have cars.”
She then went on to posit that Nigeria will become one of the biggest 20 economies in the world if the tempo at which the country is performing is sustained in the nearest future.
Disclosing that the federal government has so far mobilized over N2.4 trillion from external sources in the last three years to execute key projects, the Minister revealed that the monies were sourced from multilateral agencies with long gestation repayment period and zero percent interest charges.
Speaking at the Presidential Public Affairs Forum organized by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Okonjo-Iweala emphasized that government was determined to be very prudent in the area of expenditure finance and has chosen to keep borrowing to a tolerable limit while concerted effort will be made to broaden sources of revenue outside of oil.
The Minister, who noted that the Goodluck Jonathan administration has reformed the import waiver system, emphasized that the policy was selective.
According to her, “before President Jonathan came on board, the import waiver system was bad. They were either issued arbitrarily, were lopsided and not good for any economic environment.”
She continued that when she became Minister three years ago, the first issue the president put before the first meeting of the National Economic Management team was the import waiver which he felt was selective, lopsided and led to the midnight visits. “We are happy to announce that the policy has since been reversed and the import waiver system reformed,” she said.
The Minister maintained that the reform of the waiver system was not the only significant achievement of the Federal Government under President Jonathan. She noted that another key indicator of the positive transformation in the economy was the rebasing of Nigeria’s economy, which she said has come after just three years of the present administration.
According to her, the positive transformation agenda as championed by the administration has led local and international investors to find the business environment in Nigeria healthy, thereby leading into massive investments as exemplified by the likes of Alhaji Aliko Dangote whom she said has invested $16 billion.
Okonjo-Iweala further pointed out that housing refinancing has equally been instituted leading many Nigerians to benefit from it with more likely to key into it in the near future thus, making young Nigerians to be able to own houses with payment spread across 20 years.
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