Nigeria’s economic reforms on course, Bagudu tells World Bank

By Abubakar Yunusa

Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Bagudu, stated in Abuja on Monday that Nigeria’s economic reforms are on track and making significant progress.

He spoke during a courtesy visit from the World Bank’s new Country Director for Nigeria, Mr. Matthew Verghis, and stated that the reforms yield positive results.

He pointed out that some of the reforms’ encouraging outcomes were the significant rise in revenues accruing to states and local governments and the substantial debt reduction.

Bagudu thanked the World Bank team for supporting the reforms and welcomed the Nigeria Development Update, which was unveiled last week, as documentary evidence of the country’s positive economic progress.

“Our ambition is to grow the Nigerian economy to $1 trillion, and to achieve that, we need to develop a strategy for attaining double-digit growth,” he stated.

Bagudu noted that growth is possible through mobilising public support from the political class, labour unions, and the private sector, who have indicated broad acceptance of the reforms.

“We are confident that we will stay on course,” he said.

Earlier, Mr. Matthew Verghis, the new World Bank Country Director to Nigeria, noted that India followed a similar path in the early 90s, explaining that its tough economic decisions resulted in three decades of growth in India, significantly reducing poverty and leading to a general turnaround.

He expressed the World Bank team’s commitment to assist Nigeria in growing its economy by accelerating growth, encouraging job creation, promoting financial inclusion, and supporting agri-business, among other initiatives.

Before posting to Nigeria, Verghis served as the South Asia Regional Director for Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions at the World Bank. His previous assignments included Practice Manager for Macroeconomics, Trade, and Investment in East and Southern Africa and Practice Manager in East Asia, covering China, Vietnam, and the broader Southeast Asia region.