During the concluding briefing of the 29th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES#29), Senator Abubakar Bagudu, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, expressed his belief that the resilience of Nigerians, their increased confidence, and the growing private sector investments would play a pivotal role in overcoming the current security challenges in the country.
Responding to an observation that the summit had seemingly not emphasized the prevailing security issues, including kidnappings, banditry, and terrorism, which have been a source of concern for foreign investors, Senator Bagudu emphasized that no part of the world is entirely free from security challenges.
He further pointed out that the private sector’s willingness to invest in the Nigerian economy is a clear testament to the enduring spirit and determination of Nigerians in the face of security challenges.
He said, “On insecurity, let me start by saying Nigerians are very resilient people and that we can gather particularly the private sector to talk about putting money in Nigeria is a statement of resilience.
“It is a statement that in spite of what is said or what is felt, we need to dominate our environment. We need to generate economic activity because it’s a chicken-and-egg situation.
“I can read an online statement about a state today and decide that I cannot go there forever because I am scared, but people live there, people work there and people earn daily livelihood there.
“Investment particularly by the domestic private sector is a statement that we believe in our economy, we believe in the capacity of our economy and investment that will help us to dominate our environment.
“We have seen what is happening today in Borno State; a state that was challenged; a state that at a time, the entire local government was not being controlled by the state actors.
“But today, economic activity is resuming and people are being integrated in various programmes and that is maybe as bad as it can get. And we have seen this in the Niger Delta, where anger over environmental degradation…and at one time, many people felt insecure going to those places. It is investment and confidence in our economy that will make us defeat insecurity.”
