A ministerial nominee from Kogi State, Shuaibu Audu, has expressed optimism that Nigeria will rise to become one of the 20 largest economies in the world under the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
Shuaibu, a son of the late Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Abubakar Audu, said this when he appeared for screening at the Senate on Saturday.
He expressed confidence that the economy would bounce back from the current setback due to naira devaluation, saying that the economy was massive with a total size of the GDP at 470 billion dollars.
“This has made us the largest and most important economy in Africa. Currently we are the 30th biggest economy in the world.
“I believe with some of the measures that President Bola Tinubu has put in place, I believe we can significantly tap into the potential of Nigeria and increase our ranking and move closer to being the top 20 and being part of the G-20 economy over the President’s eight-year tenure.
“Liberalizing the apex bank policy was one of the most brilliant decisions that President Tinubu could have taken, and he took that decision on day one of this new administration.
“This is because the apex reserve was bleeding, and a lot of money was being expended on defending the naira when the parallel market was trading at a much higher rate.
“And creating an opportunity for people to take money where it’s discounted and make super normal profit, I think the President, with his experience, has done a great deal.
“I believe that over time, some of the key things are being put in place whether it’s in terms of vamping up production capabilities in agriculture or exporting various commodities from Nigeria.
“This will help mitigate the devaluation problem. I believe the devaluation problem is a problem that the president will tackle effectively over time,” he said.
(NAN)
