Protest, result of years of under-investment — Bagudu

The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu has said the current protest is as a result of years of underinvestment in so many areas of the economy.

Bagudu disclosed this on the sideline of the African caucus meeting, which took place in Abuja, having assembled ministers and governors of the Central Bank from all African countries.

He said; “We are dealing with accumulated problems, we have under-invested in so many things in our national life and when a leader came and courageously said I want to take them on, it’s risky, it’s courageous, it’s bold but sometimes it can generate reaction.

“Whether it is our security service, infrastructure, whether it is our human capital, meaning education, health, what you hear is lack of resources.

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“So, in the best understanding, consistent with what happened in Lagos, experience of President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and what is happening in the world, he said here is a pathway in which we can deliver Nigeria of our dreams. But that pathway is occasionally laden with thorns and we are experiencing that. So, we are grateful to Nigerians for expressing their view.”

He argued that the government took measures that it believed will yield a greater tomorrow “But sometimes those measures come with costs, short-term costs and understandably, some segment of society feels that maybe we should have done things differently or the result is taking too long.

“We have listened. We are mindful. What it shows is that Nigeria is a mature democracy where people can come out and say this is what we believe.”

He said the protest is happening at a time when an African caucus meeting is taking place, “Speaker after speaker in the caucus meeting can relate to what is happening in Nigeria because it’s almost an African problem. We are not, as a continent, growing as fast as we should.

“We are not being supported as much as we think we should have. While it is possible for a country with 10 million people in Europe to find 200 billion, Nigeria with over 200 billion people can hardly find 10 billion.”

He said the government imaginatively introduced a number of programmes because it recognises that if its citizens want to live the life of other countries with whom it is competing, then things must be done differently.

He said: “If we want to provide housing, we have to have a mortgage sector that works, that can deliver houses.

“If we want our young ones, our manufacturing sector to blossom, we need to have a credit system. That’s why we created consumer credit.

‘If we want to have a blossoming agricultural sector, that’s why we created the National Agricultural Development Fund.”

Speaking on the need to yield some ground to the protesters demand, the minister said: “It’s just like the head of a household. You want your children to be happy with you. But sometimes responsible leadership includes telling children to go to school against their will.

“You don’t do that because you hate them. So even for a politician to take actions that he will not receive an ovation tells you the kind of leader that person is. Some sacrifices are necessary, but like I repeatedly said, yes, even at that, you have to listen to your constituents. You have to listen to yourself and engage and generate consensus. And we are doing that. We are willing to do that.”