The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, yesterday, declared that Nigeria will finally get out of recession in 2020.
The minister, while speaking during a Strategic Retreat organised by the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), Ibadan at the Training and Conference Centre, Ogere, Ogun State, said it was not yet uhuru for Nigerians as far as the much-talked-about issue of the country exiting recession as recently certified by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) was concerned.
According to him, the report by NBS is only a challenge for Nigerians to work harder so that the country can achieve the seven percent growth rate desirable for total economic breakthrough by the year 2020.
The minister enjoined Nigerians to be more steadfast and join force with the federal government in its determination to change the national economic trajectory in a more fundamental way as encapsulated in the Economic recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) launched by President Muhammadu Buhari this year.
He said even though the federal government was estimating exiting recession by the third Quarter of 2017, the Government was “encouraged by the NBS second quarter numbers which showed that Nigeria had already exited recession.”
He said “Whilst this news is very encouraging indeed, we appreciate that there is still a lot more work required for us to realise the full promise of the ERGP which is to have a rapidly growing economy with diversified sources of growth, increased opportunities for all our people, and a socially inclusive economy that reduces poverty and create jobs for the millions of young people entering the labour market, annually.
“In short, our job is not done until we have realized Nigeria’s full potential as a major player in the world economy” he added.
Reiterating government’s commitment towards restoring the growth from a negative trend in 2016 to seven percent by 2020, the Minister emphasised the need for Nigerians to partner with government through investment in human capital development by creating jobs and building a globally competitive economy.
The minister also charged the Nigerian Institute for Social and Economic Research (NISER) to consistently generate credible knowledge through quality research, specialized training and consultancy services to aid national development.
He said NISER must ensure that its research outcomes have practical relevance to government policy decisions and development programmes.
Senator Udoma reminded NISER that it has an important role to play in the actualization of core government programmes like the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) which aims to stop the continuing decline of the country’s economic fortunes, reverse the downward spiral of the economy and move Nigeria out of recession.
He said NISER’s research must be demand-driven and guided by the objectives of the plan which could be done by deepening its collaboration with the Ministry of Budget and National Planning and ensuring that its research activities relates with the planning focus of the ministry and development needs of government.
The Minister charged the management to explore more innovative ways of funding research, including the possibility of leveraging on private sector sources and collaboration with other research institutes and agencies within and outside the country, as subventions from government can never be enough to run NISER to world standards.
Speaking earlier, the director-general of NISER, Dr. Folarin Gbadebo-Smith explained that the objective of the retreat was to critically discuss how to reposition and reinvigorate the Institute for effective delivery of its mandate.
