For robust growth, the Nigerian economy has to be private sector driven, Acting-President Yemi Osinbajo has said.
Mr Osinbajo made the statement on Friday in Lagos while on a facility tour of LADOL shipyard, which houses the Egina Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) installation, the first fully fabricated and integrated FPSO in the country.
Mr Osinbajo said it was impossible for government alone to meet the needs for economic growth or drive industralisation. He added that Nigeria has to borrow a leaf from the developed world whose economy is largely driven by the private sector.
“The Nigerian economy has to be private sector led, this project is an example. A $16 billion project, in naira terms that is around N5 trillion, the entire Nigerian budget is N9 trillion which is the highest in history of Nigeria, spending on infrastructure is N1.5 trillion naira and it tells you that a single project is more than the entire Nigerian budget for infrastructure excluding state budgets and this is the story of developed economies of the world,” Mr Osinbajo said.
“There is no way that government can satisfy the push for economic growth. So, for us it is fundamental that the private sector must lead,” he added.
