The federal government Monday defended the country’s economy against the report recently published by the African Development Bank (AfDB), in its latest report on Africa Economic Outlook (AEO).
The bank had claimed that the economic growth recorded by the federal government did not translate to poverty alleviation and job creation.
The Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, in a statement he personally signed, noted that the data considered by AfDB covered the period between 1996 and 2010, which according to him, had been overtaken by President Goodluck Jonathan’s-led federal government Transformation Agenda.
“The AfDB report based on 1996 to 2010 statistics is therefore behind time and does not reflect the real achievements/results of this
administration in tackling poverty and unemployment in Nigeria in the last three years,” Maku said.
The minister also observed that the AfDB report presented poverty, inequality, and unemployment in Nigeria without the appropriate and illuminating global context.
According to him, the challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality were global issues, which policy makers around the world were grappling with everyday.
He noted that South Africa’s unemployment rate and Gini Coefficient, which measured the dispersion in income and wealth amongst individuals, was 26 per cent and 0.63, respectively, compared to Nigeria’s 24 per cent and 0.45.
The Gini Coefficient for other comparator countries like Brazil, China, and Singapore were 0.52, 0.47, and 0.48, respectively.
According to him, the country’s economy was doing much better than any other of its size on the continent.
He said poverty statistics, which were rehashed by the media from the 1996 to 2010, figures on which the AfDB’s report was based have been overtaken by the various interventions by President Jonathan’s administration in the last two to three years.
“As earlier stated, it is important to point out that the AfDB report is a dated reports considering that the data being referred to cover between 1996 and 2010. Over the past two to three years, the administration of President Jonathan has done a lot to fight poverty, create jobs, and reduce inequality. This government has undertaken significant policy reforms targeted at addressing the challenges identified in the report. These policy interventions have contributed positively to turning things around beyond the picture painted in the report,” he said.
Maku added that the country’s economy was growing faster than any other country’s economy on the continent, with this year’s Growth Domestic Product (GDP) growth put at 6.7 per cent.
He also noted that Nigeria remains the highest destination for Foreign Direct Investment (FID) inflows into Africa over and above South Africa and Egypt.
This, according to him, was the direct result of the fundamental reforms being implemented under President Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda.
“Nigeria remains the highest destination for Foreign Direct Investment inflows into Africa over and above South Africa and Egypt. This is the direct result of the fundamental reforms being implemented under President Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda. The Nigerian Capital Market has fully recovered, recording impressive performance.
"Our public schools are gradually recovering from decades of decline as the West African Examination Council (WAEC) performances have risen to 64.2 per cent from 39.57 per cent of students, who pass with minimum of five credits (The Nation’s Editorial Monday, August 12, 2013). The trains are back on our railways from Lagos to Kano, while we fix the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri line in readiness for use by 2014. New standard gauge Rail-Lines are in the works from (Lagos-Ibadan; Abuja-Kaduna; Warri-Ajaokuta-Itakpe; Abuja City Light Rail; etc),” he stated.
The minister admitted that poverty was a national challenge, which transcended the whole country cutting across party divides.
He said the responsibility of fighting poverty does not rest solely with the federal government, but states and local governments should share in the responsibility.
“State governments hold the key to fighting poverty in their states. Dealing with poverty as a partisan phenomenon would be trivialising the problem. All hands need to be on deck to fight poverty. federal government efforts are mainly at the policy level, while actual projects/programmes are carried out by the states. In spite of this, federal interventions to reduce poverty have taken place in agriculture; health; education; housing; communication technology; works; transportation and other sectors of the economy,” he added
No comments:
Post a Comment