From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Federal Government Wednesday reaffirmed its commitment to bring down inflation and improve the economy notwithstanding the fact that the Nigerian economy has moved consistently for eight months in the right trajectory.
This is even as it admitted that the impact of the economy growth on the lives Nigerians is yet to fully manifest.
Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clement Agba, stated this at the presidential villa, Abuja after briefing the Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by President Muhammedu Buhari on the latest performance figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Addressing State House Correspondents, the minister said the economy is making a lot of progress given its consistent good performance in recent time, saying however that whether the positive indicators have had the desired impact is another matter.
Citing the National Development Plan 2021-2025, he noted that work on reviving the economy is a continuous one even as he said he could not provide definite time line to reduce the inflation to the level that will positively impact all Nigerians.
Responding to question on why Nigerians are not feeling the impact of the GDP growth, Agba 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.
“And 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.
“And 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.
“And that’s why you see in the National Development Plan 2021 to 2025, we are looking for a growth rate of an average of 5%.
“We haven’t gotten there yet but it is beginning to move towards that trajectory.
“In terms of inflation, for about 17 months consecutively, you find that inflation rate was going up, but what we are beginning to see is that for eight consecutive months, there’s a steady decline.
“It is not so much of the heavy decline but there is consistency in that decline, both for headline and to the inflation.
“But in December, we noticed that there was a slight increase. Of course, you know what normally would happen at the end of the year when everybody’s chasing the few available goods.
“So the demand, of course, is much, much higher than supply. But the good news is that in January, there was also a decline. And we noticed that the food index increases was around price of bread and cereal. And then food products were classified as like potatoes, yam, and other tubers, soft drinks, oil fats and fruit.
“So, the economy is being worked on, is a work in progress, I can’t give you a definitive date when inflation is going to be below 10%. But the fact that we say that there is inflation means that the prices are being worked on.”
Also speaking, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, appealed to commuters using the Abuja-Keffi expressway, which had suffered consistent traffic gridlock in recent times to bear with the federal government, noting that the ongoing expansion is meant to alleviate their suffering.
While noting that over 20,000 vehicles ply the road daily, he said if it were possible, the road would have been shut to enable its speedy implementation.
Fashola explained: “On Abuja-Keffi road, the reason we’re there in the very first place to build the route is because it has become insufficient to manage the large traffic of commuters. And we understand the inconvenience that commuters feel trying to use that road.
“We appeal to them to bear with us. It’s a challenge for us, I think, almost about 15 to 20,000 vehicles, if not more, use that corridor now almost on a daily basis.
“We wish we shut it down so that we can have uninterrupted construction but unfortunately, that’s not possible. So, why we manage traffic, people have to drive through a construction site we’re building.
“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.”
Meanwhile, the FEC presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, approved contract awards totalling about N58 billion for projects under the ministry of works and housing and the ministry of humanitarian affairs, social development and disaster management.
Fashola revealed that his ministry had an approval for the termination and re-award of the 49 kilometers section of Abaji to Kotokarfi road, which is part of the Abuja-Lokoja highway, to
Messers Galt for N56.175 billion.
He 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.
According to him, this is to enable the contractor to make provision for drains, replace unsuitable material and to reconstruct damaged shoulders of the road, as well as accommodate some variation in price.
On her part, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouk, said council approved two memos she presented for the revised estimated total cost for the supply of cattle for Taraba state under the emergency agricultural integration for states affected by conflict and insecurity.
According to her, it was approved at the cost of over N2 billion.
Also approved was a memo on the national action plan on human trafficking in Nigeria 2022 to 2026.
The council also approved the revised policy on science, technology and innovation policy to help the country to keep pace with emerging technologies.
Minister of science and technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, explained that the objective is to use technology to improve the standard of lives of Nigerians.
He explained: “There’ve been tremendous advances in science, technology and innovation all over the world and this necessary for our science, technology and innovation policy which was put in place in 2012, 10 years ago, to be revised so that we can keep pace with new and emerging technologies.
“The main objective is for us to use science, technology and innovation, to improve the standard of living of our citizens and ensure that we have high quality of life for all Nigerians. And this we can get if our nation becomes more prosperous, and our economy is more globally competitive.
“Again, we’ll like to see Nigeria, using this policy, to be one of the top scientific powers in the world. We believe that this will help our country to keep narrowing the gap between us and the technologically developed countries of the world.
“And ultimately, once we achieve that we should also to overtake the way nations like China has done. We should be able to do so.”