Senator Abubakar Bagudu, Nigeria’s Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, has underlined the necessity for the country to create a stable financial system with integrity in order to draw in more funding and support its development program.
Speaking at the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit’s management conference in Abuja, Bagudu stated that the nation needs to invest at least $100 billion annually in order to meet its Agenda 2050 goals, and that the current level of financing is insufficient to do so.
Although he praised President Bola Tinubu’s administration for enacting daring economic measures to increase revenue, he emphasised that more work must be done in order to reach the targeted finance levels.
Bagudu underlined the need for Nigeria to raise its credit rating and draw in both domestic and foreign investment by citing the examples of Brazil and Indonesia, which have comparable populations but much larger budgets.
In order to support the NFIU’s efforts to strengthen the integrity and soundness of the financial system, he urged improved communication.
He remarked, “We are nowhere near that. Our Agenda 2050, a statement of our national aspiration, requires that we invest at least 100 billion dollars annually to achieve a GDP per capita of $33,000 or more by 2050.”
The minister said, “But we still need to be where we should be; we are not near the kind of flows we expect.”
The strategy calls for financing from the capital markets or the private sector. As a result, our financial system needs to be dependable, honest, and sound. He also noted that the rating agencies ought to be more forgiving of us, perhaps even of all nations.
The minister declared, “We ought to raise our credit rating. We have implemented similar policies to those in nations where credit ratings have increased significantly. We should gain from our well-established and dedicated institutions, especially the NFIU.
“We reinforce and punish wrongdoing while highlighting our great work to enhance the integrity and soundness of our financial assistance because communication matters.”