The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Tuesday in Lagos said the removal of oil subsidy would strengthen investors’ confidence in the capital market.
She said this at a forum organised by the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) with Ms Christine Lagarde, the Managing Director of International Monetary Fund (IMF).?
The theme of the forum called an “economic discourse” was “Africa’s Future: Responding to today’s global economic challenges”.
She assured that government would use the proceeds from subsidy removal to improve on the infrastructure that would re-direct both local and foreign investors’ confidence in the capital market.
Okonjo-Iweala, who is also the Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy, said that the right economic indicators would be put in place for macro-economic policies.
“This will create a balance in the system,” she said.
The minister said that there was also the need to improve vocational education to create more jobs for the unemployed youths.?
She said that the country needs a lot of vocational education in the economy, adding that the country sourced most of her artisans from the neighbouring countries.??
Okonjo-Iweala said the federal government had set aside funds to stimulate the youth entrepreneurs’ project including “the YouWin project”.
She said government was also focusing on a public works programme to be launched soon.
“We need every means we can use to tackle unemployment in this country,” the minister said.
On his part, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Malam Lamido Sanusi, noted that government’s decision to remove fuel subsidy was unpopular.
“But it is absolutely necessary for the Nigerian economy. Leadership is not about taking popular decisions, but taking important decisions. It is about taking important decisions on policies,” he said.
Sanusi said the problem facing the country’s economy was the issue of `leakages in the areas of government spending’.
“But Nigerians have to face the challenges of correcting the leakages,” he said.
Sanusi said until the leakages were changed, there would be a continuously high cost of governance.
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