Wale Edun, minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, says the benefits of President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms will not be realised immediately.
Edun made the remarks on Thursday during the Chartered Institute of Directors (CIoD) Nigeria’s virtual 2023 annual directors’ conference.
Tinubu’s administration has implemented certain economic reforms, including the removal of petrol subsidies, since taking office in May.
As the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) collapsed the many official market rates to the investors and exporters (I&E) window and adopted the ‘willing buyer, willing seller’ model, Tinubu aimed to harmonise the currency rates of the official and parallel markets.
The removal of subsidy on premium motor spirit (PMS) has led to an increase in the cost of petrol, while the naira has devalued significantly against the dollar in the official and parallel markets.
Edun said the economic reforms were necessary and its benefits will take some time to materialise.
He said Tinubu is working on providing a stable economy and foreign exchange to enable investments in the country.
According to the minister, the source of foreign revenue was not fully diversified even though the Nigerian economy was already diversified.
“The agenda is to provide first and foremost a stable economy, growing more than population growth, with low inflation, stable foreign exchange to enable investments in productive activities,” he said.
“This is what the president is working on and we are a work in progress and we look forward to the task at hand.
“The big price is to make ourselves a formidable economy, our institutions a corporate governance place so that those interested in investing can have trust in their investment.
“The IoD has a major role to play in championing corporate governance so we have a clean lead corporate sector which the world can come and partner for growth and progress.”
On her part, Doris Uzoka-Anite, minister of industry, trade and investment, said ethical corporate governance was a critical building block of diversification and economic transformation.
She said the Tinubu-led administration was working on developing a robust monitoring and evaluation framework across all ministries, departments and agencies to facilitate economic development.
“This is a call to action for us all to play our parts in driving economic growth and stability via good corporate governance,” she said.
“It is established that countries with well functional corporate governance framework experience more growth rate.
“Nigeria is blessed with abundant natural resources but continue to face significant challenges in realising economic development.
Uzoka-Anite said this is where the role of corporate governance comes in, adding that the CIoD has a vital role to play in this regard.
Credit: NAN
