President Bola Tinubu has unveiled his administration’s ambitious economic agenda, aiming to propel Nigeria into a trillion-dollar economy within the next decade.
Leveraging the nation’s vast population and abundant resources, the President emphasised the potential for Nigeria’s economic transformation through his Renewed Hope Agenda.
During the opening session of the 2023 National Engineering Conference, Exhibition, and Annual General Meeting of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) in Abuja, Vice President Kashim Shettima, representing President Tinubu, articulated the administration’s key focus areas.
These included prioritising job creation, facilitating access to capital for businesses of all sizes, promoting inclusivity, upholding the rule of law, and intensifying efforts to combat hunger, poverty, and corruption.
The President stated that he was not unaware of the hardships most Nigerians are entangled in, noting, however, that “the difficult times are indeed temporary, but the benefits will be permanent.”
Reeling out his administration’s efforts to transform the economy and create opportunities for citizens, Tinubu said, “I have had engagements with stakeholders across Nigeria’s manufacturing sector. I am very much aware of the problems and challenges that are uppermost in your minds: access to low-cost capital, multiple taxation, infrastructure issues, foreign exchange, export obstacles, among others.
“I am happy to let you know that we are tackling, with unprecedented boldness and decisiveness, each and every one of these issues.”
On taxation, President Tinubu explained that his administration’s goal is to increase the country’s tax revenues and reduce the burden on individuals and businesses simultaneously.
“It may sound like a contradiction, but it is not: by streamlining the number of taxes, introducing greater efficiency, and blocking the loopholes through which leakages occur, we can and will deliver less burdensome tax regimes to businesses and employers of labour.
“The government’s focus in foreign exchange has been to abolish an unwieldy and much-abused rate regime, setting the foundation for transparent price discovery and all the other elements required to attract substantial inflows into a properly run official market,” the President added.
