Nigeria is not broke but great and rich in potentials, that’s according to Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun.
Mrs Adeosun made the assertion while fielding questions from TVC News anchors, Mike Okwoche and Azeezat Olaoluwa during TVC Breakfast on Tuesday morning.
The Finance Minister had been speaking on the Federal Government’s aggressive tax initiative and when asked whether the country was broke, she said “absolutely not.”
“Nigeria is not broke, Nigeria is rich in resources and potential, this government is going to deliver on the potential of Nigeria,” she stated, adding that “Nigeria is great.”
While speaking on the Federal Government’s plans to reflate the economy by spending out of recession, she noted that the policy has been very effective and that “hopefully, we will get out of recession by next quarter.”
“We’ve been able to turn the corner in terms of economic performance, we spent about 1.2 trillion of capital last year, we are hoping to equal that this year. We’ve turned the corner, some countries are in recession, 3, 4, 5 years.” she said.
On why the Federal Government continues to give bailout funds to states when they still cannot pay salaries, she said it is very important to reflate the economy.
“Reflation means spending, if government is spending on roads and power but people in the states do not earn salaries-and it is their salaries that they spend-so if they are not getting their salaries, they cannot spend and therefore demand contracts, so we need to ensure that states are able t pay salaries,” she added.
The Finance Minister disclosed that the FG has launched 21 reforms and that the administration has been monitoring the state governments, “and we found that there have been significant improvements.”
Watch the full interview below :
