‘Nigeria Needs Critical Infrastrcuture For Job Creation’

The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, says Nigeria needs to build critical infrastructure to support job creation as well as learn to manage its economy in times of uncertainty.

Okonjo-Iweala, who is also the Coordinating Minister of Economy, stated this in Abuja on Wednesday at a news conference entitled: Transforming Nigeria: Creating jobs – A short to medium term agenda.

She urged President Goodluck Jonathan to concentrate on creating job opportunities, especially for the youth, to stimulate economic growth and national development.

“The President’s vision is to get the Nigerian economy back on track and what we are here to do is to execute President Jonathan’s vision and aspirations for the economy. So, he is the driver. He wants a better Nigeria, he wants more progress. And we have to find ways and means to try and make that happen”, she said.

“The central thing is job creation and building critical infrastructure to support job creation. At the end of the day, what we want to do, is to make a difference in the lives of millions of Nigerians. “That takes time, so we need to know that we cannot solve all the problems in the economy overnight. We have to take them bite-size by bite-size and try to tackle the problems one by one,” he added.

She stated that she would focus on macro-economic reforms and stability, structural reforms, investment climate reforms, and legacy reforms, adding that she would modernise the public sector and fight corruption.

The minister pointed out that she would promote investment in key sectors such as security, infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing, housing and construction, the entertainment industry, education and health.

According to her, Nigeria needs to maintain macro economic reforms and stability, saying,  there is  need to manage our fiscal situation in a more prudent manner.

She said that Nigeria also needed an enabling environment for investors so as to create jobs, to move from farming to agriculture, and to support the entertainment industry to create more jobs, pointing out that without security there would not be growth and development.

The minister said that the administration was working towards reducing the country’s recurrent expenditure from 74 per cent to 70 per cent within the tenure of the present administration.

Okonjo-Iweala stated that she would also pay attention to the country’s domestic and external debts, which stand at N5.2 trillion and N5.3 billion respectively.

The minister called for the sustenance of a fiscal deficit of 3 percent Gross Domestic Product.

Secretary to Rivers State Government, Mr George Feyii (left) in a handshake with the Commissioner for Finance, Dr Chamberlain Peterside at the reception organised for distinguished members of the Government Secondary and Commercial College, Ibaa, at Hotel Presidential, Port Harcourt, last Saturday. Photo; Chris Monyanaga