World Bank Urges Nigeria To Protect Vulnerable Citizens

The Nigerian government has been called upon to do everything in its power to protect the most vulnerable citizens in the county against hardships because their lives and the lives of Nigeria’s 110 million children depend on it.

Senior Vice President, World Bank Group, Indemit Gill stated this in his address at the 30th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES #30), in Abuja, Nigeria ‘s capital

Painting a gloomy picture of Nigeria’s economy, the World Bank said that the economy will need to stick with its present condition for at least another 10 to 15 years to transform to its dream state.

Gill said; “Nigeria will need to stay the course for at least another 10 to 15 years to transform its economy. So I don’t know if you’re agreeing with me or if you’re disagreeing with me. If it does that, it will transform its economy into an enviable one.”

He said the economy must stay the course of reform because of Nigeria’s long-term future and the future of its entire citizens on it.

“Now, during the coming year, Nigerian policy makers have to do three things.

“The first is to prioritise non-oil drilling. This requires a competitive exchange rate, which Nigeria now has. Nigeria’s real exchange rate is at its most competitive in at least 20 years,”he said.

Gill said; “This is a great opportunity for the private sector. To protect the poor and maintain competitiveness, the Central bank must stay focused on inflation. It should resist the lure of short-term capital inflows that might push up the Naira’s value too quickly and crib non-oil growth.

“It should rebuild foreign exchange reserves instead, as a cushion against oil price volatility.”

“Again, I think Governor Cadorso (Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria) is doing many of these things, and he should be encouraged. The second is that every vulnerable household cope with is high inflation,” he said, stressing that the government is rolling out a large-scale targeted temporary cash transfer programme that has already reached between 4 and 5 million households.

“It should quickly extend this to 10 million households and perhaps more if necessary, “ Gill said.

The World Bank Executive
explained that the government should, over the next few years, also install a cost-effective safety net to protect its most vulnerable citizens, financing it with some of the savings from fuel subsidy and exchange rate distortions.

“It has to make the economy more business-ready. And I think that the Chairman of NESG actually put out a very clear agenda of what needs to be done there.

“In the next 10 years, more than 12 million young Nigerians, both men and women, will enter the workforce. Generating jobs for them will greatly be facilitated by the private sector.
And, it will be facilitated by large-scale domestic and foreign private investment in the non-oil sector.

“Attracting such investment means boosting the national power grid, improving transportation, improving security, and improving the rules and regulations and the enforcement of private enterprise.
So failure would set back reform efforts across the continent, besides ruining the future of yet another generation.

“Nigeria’s elites, we are all elites here in this room, must unite to support these reforms to enabling a broadly prosperous and stable Nigeria, they will be making perhaps the most valuable and the biggest request to their own children and grandchildren.

Praising the World Bank team in Nigeria, Gill described them as ‘”one of the best leaders. You have here an excellent country director.

“You have a top-notch team of economists, of energy specialists, operations staff, they have the expertise that is needed. Most importantly though, especially in difficult times, they have the experience that the moment demands.

“Many of these experts that you have here in the Abuja office are people who are veterans of similar reforms in places like Indonesia and many other places. You should take full advantage of that.”

“But the one thing that struck me about our team here, as I prepared for this as I prepared for this visit, the most important thing that I learned about them is that they have great affection and admiration for everyday Nigerians.

“The Nigerian government and the people can count on their support 24-7 and this team will get all the support they ask for from the entire World Bank group” he added.

Mercy Chukwudiebere