The administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said it is determined to take Nigeria to a trillion-dollar economy by 2030. How does he intend to do so? For the records, one trillion dollar economy as of today’s exchange rate is N1,600 trillion. Going by Nigeria’s budget this year, 2024, a total of N34 trillion was proposed and approved.
Fusing or synthesising N34 trillion budget with a projected one trillion dollar economy (1,600 trillion naira), would give us just two per cent. The root cause of our poverty is majorly the size of our national budget and low productivity.
When over 200 million Nigerians are serviced annually via a budget of N34 trillion, you will agree with me that it’s too meagre for comfort!
To attain 1,600 trillion naira economy by 2030, which is just six years from now, we need to jump-start an annual budget of not less than N270 trillion. Those planning to take us to a trillion-dollar economy should also not forget that our population and other social indices won’t be static. Therefore, the planning template for the one trillion dollar economy should be robustly dynamic to absorb social shocks that may be thrown up.
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As we move towards the attainment of this trillion-dollar economy, we should also work on our exchange rate which is ridiculously low. Pa Obafemi Awolowo, of blessed memory, mentioned in one of his books that each country has the right to fix its exchange rate in a manner that won’t compromise national economic interest.
I suggest we find a way to re-evaluate our currency. Someone mentioned to me that the unit cost of printing our currency is higher than the value of each denomination. If this is true, we need to urgently re-evaluate our currency so that attainment of our ambitious 1,600 trillion Naira economy by 2030 won’t be a mirage.
Odutola Odufuwa wrote from Abuja and could be reached via email: [email protected]
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