The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, has emphasised the difficulty in estimating the economic losses caused by the ongoing protests, underscoring that the loss of lives is more significant than material damage.
Bagudu explained that the government implemented measures aimed at transforming the economy for the better in the long term, acknowledging that these measures sometimes come with short-term costs.
He noted that a segment of society might feel that the actions could have been handled differently.
He highlighted that Nigeria has suffered from decades of underinvestment in critical sectors such as security, infrastructure, human capital, education, and health.
President Tinubu’s administration has been working to address these accumulated issues.
The Minister made these remarks over the weekend during the African Caucus 2024 meeting in Abuja. He stated, “You can’t even put an estimate because somebody has lost his life. How can you quantify that?
“That is why sometimes even those who have a noble intention of doing something, I always encouraged them to be hesitant because there are people who do not have such a noble intention that can always hide behind the desire for people to express themselves, to create havoc, to harm others, to even go beyond that and even create greater social disruptions. I don’t have an estimate about the damage, but one life lost is big enough.”
Addressing the economic measures taken by the government, which partly led to the protests, he said, “The government took measures that it believed would yield a greater tomorrow. But sometimes those measures come with short-term costs, and understandably some segments of society feel that maybe we should have done things differently, or it has taken too long and we have listened, we are mindful.
“We have seen different shades of opinion; some say reverse the policies. Some say we haven’t seen the gains as quickly as we thought we could.
“There are some who have also been able to say no. Let us also be careful because I can remember Bishop Matthew Kuka in the State House interview when he visited Mr President, and when he was asked about his assessment, he said, One year is too short to assess an administration.
“Equally, when you are dealing with accumulated problems. We have underinvested in so many things in our national life. And when a leader comes and says, I want to take them on courageously, it’s risky, it is courageous, he is bold, but sometimes it can generate a reaction.”
“We have under-invested for decades, whether it is our security service, whether it’s our infrastructure, whether it’s our human capital, even education and health. What you hear is a lack of resources, and it’s true,” Bagudu said.
“Historically, there has been a lack of resources in all of these, which is why there are security issues. I’ve seen that they don’t have all the equipment, they don’t have enough personnel, and the infrastructure we have has failed roads that need to be fixed.
“Every community wants a road or something, but we don’t have all the money. So in my best understanding, consistent with what happened in the Lagos experience of Mr President Bola Tinubu, he said, it’s a pathway in which we can deliver Nigeria of our dreams, but that pathway is occasionally laden with stones. And we are experiencing that.”
Bagudu noted that the protests are occurring during an African Caucus meeting, where ministers and central bank governors from various African countries are discussing similar issues.
“The protest is happening at a time when an African caucus meeting is taking place, which includes ministers and governors of the central bank from all African countries. Speaker after speaker in the Caucus meeting can relate to what’s happening in Nigeria because it’s almost an African problem.”
He highlighted the disparity in financial support between African and European countries, stating, “We are not as a continent, growing as fast as we should. I just finished participating in the session on the International Development Association (IDA). What does that mean? We are not being supported as much as we think we should. While it is possible for a country with 10 million people in Europe to find $200 billion, Nigeria, with over 200 billion people, can hardly find $10 billion. So this calls for introspection.”
Bagudu stressed the importance of listening and adapting to public concerns. “We have listened; Mr. President has always been humbled to say democracy is not a monologue. He listens; we don’t have all the answers, especially when, among others, your younger ones are feeling you have not done enough. You should never get angry. We should think carefully about how we can calibrate. How can it be done differently?”
Senator Bagudu reiterated that the federal government has introduced a number of imaginative programmes to address these challenges.
“If we want to provide housing, we have to have a mortgage sector that works and can deliver houses. That’s why we have a mortgage fund to deliver; if we want our manufacturing sector to blossom, we need to have a credit system.
“That’s why we created consumer credit; if we want to have a blossoming agricultural sector, that’s why we created the National Agricultural Development Fund,” he stated.
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