The Federal Government has said that despite the fact that the economy has moved in the right trajectory for some time now on a consistent basis, its impact on the lives of the people is yet to fully manifest.
It, therefore, assured Nigerians that concerted efforts were being made to ensure that the inflation rate, which has been on a downward trend, was brought lower as government continued to work on ways of reviving the economy.
The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Mr. Clement Agba, gave the assurance while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the virtual Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The minister said he briefed the council on the latest performance figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
He said the economy was making a lot of progress, given its consistent good performance in recent time, noting, however, that whether the positive indicators had had the desired impact was another matter.
Citing the National Development Plan 2021-2025, he said work on reviving the economy was a continuous process, even as he said he could not provide definite time line to reduce the inflation to the level that would positively impact all Nigerians.
The minister, who was fielding questions from journalists, said: “First, you say the figures that were given show that there is a positive trajectory in terms of the economy. I think first we need to understand what GDP itself means. It’s the totality of the value of goods and services, it’s an indication of what is happening in the economy, when you are having more to spend, more transactions are going on.
“It means that the economy itself is growing and if it is declining, and you have such negative decline in two quarters, then we will say you are in a recession.
“NBS has consistently given these figures, whether they are positive, or they are negative, and then we compare them either on month on month basis, or year on year basis.
“Then we also have what those figures are annually, which tend to show us or indicate whether we are making progress or not.
“What those numbers show is that there’s a steady progress that is being made. Whether it is far reaching enough, is a different ball game.
“That’s why you see in the National Development Plan 2021 to 2025, we are looking for a growth rate of an average of 5percent. We haven’t gotten there yet but it is beginning to move towards that trajectory.
“So, please bear with us. We’ll do the best we can to minimize the inconvenience. When the road is finished, be sure that the current inconvenience would have been well worth the wait and the experience.
The minister said FEC approved contract awards worth about N58billion for projects under the ministry of works and housing and the ministry of humanitarian affairs, social development and disaster management.
He said his ministry had an approval for the termination and re-award of the 49kilometres section of Abaji to Kotokarfi road, which is part of the Abuja-Lokoja highway, to Messrs Galt for N56.175billion.
He further said FEC also approved the revision of the contract of the Afo-Apoto-Oyo boundary road in Kwara by the sum of N251,530,000,which revised the contract sum from N3,060,000,000 to N3,311,000,000.