President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said the nation was paying dearly for the incompetence in the management of huge oil revenue over the past decade and allowing the decay of critical infrastructure without “saving for the rainy day”.
He spoke at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja while receiving the Global Chief Executive Officer of Unilever, Mr Paul Polman.
Presidential spokesman, Mr Femi Adesina, in a statement, quoted Buhari as lamenting that past leaderships in the country refused to save for the “rainy day”.
Buhari said his government was working very hard to restructure the economy which, according to him, was battered by several years of mismanagement.
‘We refused to save for the rainy day. Now the rain is beating us. No money, no savings, nothing. And we are thoroughly wet from the rains," the president said.
Buhari said the country was paying the price for turning herself into a mono economy.
He, however, assured that with the current emphasis on agriculture, Nigeria would soon be able to feed herself and even export.
He said the federal government would fast-track the implementation of strategies to ease doing business and attract more investors into Nigeria.
"We want to create jobs, and supporting manufacturing is one way to do it. As soon as we have stabilised our budget, I will personally be interested in the manufacturing sector, particularly in the generation of essential raw materials," he added.
Earlier, Polman told Buhari that Unilever had invested about N15bn in Nigeria in the past three years.
He said the conglomerate had been in Nigeria for 93 years, making it the oldest manufacturing concern in the country. "Our products are more Nigerian than other Nigerian brands. Despite the economic downturn, there are opportunities to further advance our business here. The situation to invest and continue to invest here is very encouraging," he said.
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