Sen. Ajibola Basiru Calls For The Diversification Of Economy, Says Enough Of Reliance On A Nigeria That Is A Mono-Economy Relying Solely On Oil

Chairman, of the Senate Committee on Diaspora, Non-Governmental Organizations and Civil Societies, Senator (Dr) Surajudeen Ajibola Basiru has said that enough of reliance on a Nigeria that is a mono-economy relying solely on oil. The Honourable Senator made this statement whilst delivering a Goodwill message at the Nigeria Diaspora Investment Summit on the 7th November, 2019 at the presidential villa banquet hall, Abuja.

According to him, we have to diversify our resources and that has been the economic trust of the Present Administration. He noted that the commitment of the National Assembly is to ensure that all legislations that will assist in the realization of diversifying our economy will be put in place. He added that the passage of the deep offshore law has been one of the expeditious law they have done and it put them in a good stead to have necessary revenue.

He also commended the Nigeria Diaspora Commission for bringing ingenuity, creativity, commitment, integrity and sagacity to the work of the commission on diaspora, adding that, the First budget of the Diaspora commission is still in the pipeline, and that in the absence of this, a lot of work has gone into trying to leverage on the very important resources of our nation towards the path of Economic growth.

“I want to join my colleagues in the House of Representatives to commend the Nigeria Diaspora Commission particularly the CEO for bringing ingenuity, creativity, commitment, integrity and sagacity to the work of the commission on diaspora. The First budget of the Diaspora commission is still in the pipeline, in the absence of this, a lot of work has gone into trying to leverage on the very important resources of our nation towards the path of Economic growth.

“I want to assure you in the Diaspora that we have a new National Assembly that works for Nigeria and we are committed to supporting the developmental agenda of the Government of President Muhammadu Buhari at the risk of political blackmail of calling us rubber stamp. We believe that it is not by accident that Nigerians decided to elect the President that form the Executive and elected the majority of lawmakers from the same political party so we are committed to the realization of the goal of security, economic transformation and transparency which we believe will assist in our drive towards economic growth.”

“Just as we have noted on the theme of this summit “Leveraging on Diaspora Resources for Economic growth”, we are changing the narrative of Nigeria. Enough of reliance on a Nigeria that is a mono-economy relying solely on oil. We have to diversify our resources and that has been the economic trust of the Present Administration and the commitment of the National Assembly is to ensure that all legislations that will assist in the realization of diversifying our economy will be put in place.

“The passage of the deep offshore law has been one of the expeditious law we have done and it put us in a good stead to have necessary revenue. At the time we were debating the principles of the 2020 budget, I remember I said that we need to change our orientation, our country is not a rich country, it is a country that needs serious revenue, serious productive activities, we need serious actions towards economic growth so that we can unleash the strength of Nigerians to take care of the unborn generations,” he said.

Speaking further, he said that in a couple of decades, they are going to have a country of about 400million people, adding that, they have to start thinking how do they create an economy that is not dependent on the vicissitude of international price of oil, and how do they develop an economy that will bring at least 60% of our population to the path of productivity.

He finally stressed that this is the lasting legacy they believe the Present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is doing and they in the National Assembly are committed to the National Assembly that works for Nigeria.