A Managing Director of US international investment bank Goldman Sachs, Mr. Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga, has said Nigeria's budget deficit is not bad in itself as long as the money is spent on projects that will positively impact the economy.
Aganga is one of the 38 new ministers confirmed by the Senate yesterday, and is tipped to be the new Minister of Finance.
Responding to questions on the economy and sustainable economic growth during the screening, Aganga said: “Let me start with the economy because that is one of the questions I have been asked by a number of people.
“Sustainable economic growth – there are so many strategies all over the world in terms of how you achieve a sustainable economic growth.”

He identified the three main ingredients which affect and contribute significantly – the first capital, the second labour and “the third is what we call factor of productivity and that contributes 60-66 per cent of the economic growth”.
He continued: “When we talk about the capital, we are talking about resource and the allocation – this could be international and domestic. Thank God we are going to the international market this year to raise a $500 million bond to fund the budget deficit.
“So the idea from the international scene is to make sure that we regain their confidence and there are a number of initiatives which we’ll hopefully put together if this house decides to confirm me.”
Aganga stated further: “The second is allocation, and that we have dealt with in the budget. I note that there has been an increase of about 50 per cent or thereabouts in the budget and we are running a budget deficit of about 5 to 6 per cent of the GDP; that itself is not necessarily a bad thing to do.

“What is more significant is that money is allocated to projects that will deliver strong social and economic returns and which means that the emphasis is going to be now on implementation, making sure that the qualities and the efficiencies of spending are looked at strictly.
“The second is on labour – it is about quality; it is about quantity. We have quantity advantage like China; like India, we have quantity advantage of 150 million people.  We also have one advantage which we appear not to have tapped enough into.
“Nigerians are one of the most entrepreneurial, innovative people in the world.  I will tell you a story; we have a programme at Goldman Sachs.  We are trying to empower 10,000 women all over the world; so we have this programme all over the world working with universities.

“The most successful programme to date is the one we run in Nigeria at the Lagos Business School and that is because of the type of people we are.  I hope that we will be able to harness this and use it in the most effective way.” 
He added: “Quality, we need to work on. Productivity is all about scalability, it is all about technology; it is all about infrastructure and we talked about infrastructure gap question.
“Of course, out of infrastructure, the biggest one is power. I am excited that this administration intends to focus completely as much as possible on power.

“I have heard your questions most of today and yesterday; a lot of questions were on power; it means that we are focused on it and that means that if we can all work together - the Executive and the National Assembly; we can get there. Our people demand it of us and it is our duty to deliver it to them.”
On the global meltdown and getting Nigeria out of it, Aganga said: “I think it is difficult to remove Nigeria completely from the global economy. The reason why it is difficult is that most of our revenues come from oil. Global economic crisis will affect the demand for oil and therefore will affect the volatility of the price.

“In fact, that is one of the things we should be looking at in the budget on how we should protect that revenue and risk manage the volatility in the oil price. That will come in there. That affects the budget; it affects the revenue and productivity.”
On the capital market crisis, he stated, “When you talk about issues about the capital market, most of it are homemade issues and that is the fact that we were too fast, but I think some of my colleagues are already taking actions to correct that and we need to focus on both the banking and capital market reforms.”

On his part, former Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamsudden Usman, who defended his stewardship at the screening, reviewed the banking sector reform and concluded that it was on course.
His name had been withdrawn on Tuesday but was surprisingly returned yesterday.
According to him, “The banking reform, as somebody who has served in the central bank for eight years, I will say in its entirety, is very much on course.

“What is being addressed is the issue of risk. That is a very critical factor in bank and the focus on assessing risk; you notice internationally every country is reviewing its banking regulations to ensure that the kind of recklessness and the kinds of financial problems that were created for the whole world are avoided.
“It is happening in the United States; it is happening in Europe. In fact, in a way, we are probably ahead of the curve.  So overall, I think there may be certain issues that need some adjustments, but overall I will say it is very much on course.”
He said while in the ministry, he developed “a National M and E framework which is to be used for the evaluation of Ministries, Departments and Agencies’ performance, the performance of the Federal Government itself as well as the States and Local Governments.

“At the end of the day, it will give us an opportunity to also do a country performance for Nigeria so that issues like the 6,000 megawatts of electricity, we need to begin to monitor the extent to which we are able to implement those and especially to remember that by 2020 to have a minimum of 35,000 megawatts.
“I also worked on the National Strategy for the Development of Statistics which is to generate the data for national planning. In this wise, we have established an electronic data base for the whole country in the National Bureau of statistics and so far 24 States are connected to this national data base.

“There are also 12 MDAs that are connected, including the critical ones like NNPC, Nigerian Custom Service, Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) so that key data for planning and economic policy making are generated.
“The last of the four items that I did was to actually develop an evaluation of a number of key policies; for example, since the beginning of the 7-point agenda, nobody had done a proper evaluation of this policy. But in the last two months we have actually produced the first evaluation of the 7-point agenda.”
On correct and realistic national planning, Usman said: “We are taking Nigeria back to a culture of planning. The vision 2020 is a long term plan. Then the work that is being done under the Central Working Group chaired by Chief Philip C. Asiodu, will actually finish this week.

“They will produce a four-year implementation plan.  So that is our medium term plan for the country; then the annual budget becomes the short term plan; actually what is needed now going forward is to find a way of integrating these three plans.
“From 2011 hopefully, our budget must be derived from the medium term plans and from the Vision 20:2020. In fact when the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the Vision document, Mr. President said with effect from 2011, the federal budget itself must derive from the details of the implementation plan and the vision.

“So we are back on course. Luckily, it is not just the federal government that is doing it. We have worked closely with the states and, as I speak to you, every state in the federation, the 36 states plus FCT,  also under our guidance and support have drawn up their own vision documents and medium term implementation plan; so the whole country in moving in the right direction.”
Usman, who was reported to have had problem with the National Assembly prior to his screening appearance, dismissed the reports as unfounded.
He said: “With the permission of the Senate, I will like to use this opportunity to correct a terribly wrong impression that was created when I was Minister of Finance.

“The public perception was that the National Assembly was my enemy or I was the enemy of the National Assembly. Far from that, Mr. President and Distinguished members, I am student of Public Finance; I taught Public Finance in three Nigerian Universities and one overseas.
“I was Director of Budget in Kano under Governor (Abubakar) Rimi, before I became Minister of Finance. So, I will be the last person that anybody would expect not to understand that the budget is both an economic document as well as a political document.

“To say that I do not recognise the primacy of the National Assembly given by the Constitution, given by the National Assembly to be the one that decides appropriation, I mean if anybody accuses me of that, this will be completely out of order.”
He continued: “So certainly, if you are in public office, unfortunately, because in my work as Minister of Finance, I had taken on perhaps to my chagrin, I had taken on so many mafia; I had taken on the customs mafia; I had taken on the tax concession mafia who are draining this country out of its revenues.

“Everybody knows the committee I set up under Senator Udoma saved this country billions of naira. I took on the oil importation mafia; I took on the ports system mafia because I was trying to achieve 48 hours clearance.
“When we looked at… we were clearing goods in this country in 15 days, and we wanted to bring it down to 48 hours. Before I left Finance Ministry, we had brought it down to six days from 15 days.
“Now those mafias are very entrenched as you know; so it was in the interest of many of them to create a rift between me and yourselves. But I want to correct this impression.

“You know that before I left the Ministry of Finance and I have witnesses here, the way I worked with many of your committees, especially the final one where the budget was being reconciled between the 2009 budget under the leadership of the Deputy Senate President, we worked night and day.”

http://www.thisdayonline.com

@Poster

What is refreshing about the above article? . . . . . Please explain.

Aganga should stop playing up to the senate and telling em what they wanna hear.

I dont trust the current guys in power to spend even a penny of our cash wisely.

We cannot run deficits on the premise of heavy infrastructure investment, when we all know those investments are ending up in foreign bank accounts rather than the projects they are purportly designated for.

I am very disappointed with Jonathan running 50% increased budget (to pay off the people he bought to win the Presidency), then claiming that this is due to increased investment. Excess crude fund done dey empty, foreign reserve don dey finish. The next thing we will see is Naira-inflation without all these mechanisms to guard against it.

What happened to the gains of Okonjo-Iweala's tenure?

Interesting one

If this is impressive to some people, I shudder for Nigeria.

Apart from the fact that I am deeply opposed to Aganga being nominated on Lagos State's slot (he should go to Edo), I am shocked at these sort of irresponsible utterances emanating from him, in a country where "leaders" have a known predilection for running up odious debts and looting same.

He is UTTERLY IRRESPONSIBLE and appears to have come home just to join the feeding frenzy.

WE STILL HAVE NO MINISTERIAL NOMINEE INDIGENOUS TO LAGOS STATE. THIS IS A CLEAR BREACH OF SECTION 147(3) OF THE CONSTITUTION!! JONATHAN, TAKE NOTE!!

felele:

Apart from the fact that I am deeply opposed to Aganga being nominated on Lagos State's slot (he should go to Edo),

Why should he go to Edo?
Is Mr. Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga a Yoruba man or felele drank too much.

Tippy Top:


Why should he go to Edo?
Is Mr. Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga a Yoruba man or felele drank too much.

Do your assignment before commenting on any thread . . . . . The dude, Mr Aganga, is from Edo state.

Tippy Top:


Why should he go to Edo?
Is Mr. Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga a Yoruba man or felele drank too much.

He should go to Edo because he is indigenous to Edo, and that would satisfy the requirements of Section 147 (3) of the Constitution.

Mr. Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga may well be a Yoruba man, going by the evidence presented starkly by his name. However, this alone does not confer indigeneship of Lagos State upon him. The last time "powers-that-be" foisted a non-Lagosian upon us in Lagos, we ended up with Bola Tinubu's eight years of drift.

Regarding your last question:

NA YOUR PAPA "drank too much", you numbskull!! Why can't you engage in meaningful conversation without giving in to the urge to descend into your normal place of residence, the gutter

felele:

He should go to Edo because he is indigenous to Edo, and that would satisfy the requirements of Section 147 (3) of the Constitution.

Mr. Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga may well be a Yoruba man, going by the evidence presented starkly by his name. However, this alone does not confer indigeneship of Lagos State upon him. The last time "powers-that-be" foisted a non-Lagosian upon us in Lagos, we ended up with Bola Tinubu's eight years of drift.

Regarding your last question:

NA YOUR PAPA "drank too much", you numbskull!! Why can't you engage in meaningful conversation without giving in to the urge to descend into your normal place of residence, the gutter

Hey Mr Man, wakeup. Tell me to show you some Lagos State indegene is and I would point Mr. Ben Akabueze and Mr Joe Igbokwe.

These are Lagosian of the 21st century. Grow up and realise that Lagos is a cosmopolitan, multi-ethnic society. Yeah there are some original indegenes from Epe, Ikorodu, Badagary,Lagos Island but they are are just like the native Indians in the US now.

This is exactly how NIgeria will work. So, AGANGA is a Bonafide citizen of Lagos State.

This man is thanking God that Nigeria is borrowing huge sums of money from abroad. Just wonder about what our foreign debt will become if he is made the Minister of Finance.


He's from Goldman Sachs, the bank that engineered the financial crisis in Greece which the entire European has found itself incapable to solve.


I welcome him. With the likes of Anenih, Dora, Yar'Adua, I really see no reason why not.

kawazaki:


Hey Mr Man, wakeup. Tell me to show you some Lagos State indegene is and I would point Mr. Ben Akabueze and Mr Joe Igbokwe.

These are Lagosian of the 21st century. Grow up and realise that Lagos is a cosmopolitan, multi-ethnic society. Yeah there are some original indegenes from Epe, Ikorodu, Badagary,Lagos Island but they are are just like the native Indians in the US now.

This is exactly how NIgeria will work. So, AGANGA is a Bonafide citizen of Lagos State.

It is you, Igbokwe and Akabueze who will need to wake up very shortly.

Both these guys were not appointed by Lagosians, but by another non-Lagosian usurper, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to aid him in the looting of Lagos and the emasculation of Lagos State indigenes. I hope you will be able to recognise it for what it is when the coming conflagaration begins to consume you and your ilk.

HE IS A CIA APPOINTMENT - AN ECONOMIC SABATEUR.

Who do you think suggested his appointment.

He thinks Nigeria's debts are minute? Does he want Nigeria's debts on par with the US/UK?

NIGERIA SHOULD NOT BE INDEBTED TO ANYONE!!! Calculate the billions stolen and then calculate are national debt.

His every move needs to be watched and scrutinized.

Look beyond the fancy oyibo,

nex:

This man is thanking God that Nigeria is borrowing huge sums of money from abroad. Just wonder about what our foreign debt will become if he is made the Minister of Finance.


He's from Goldman Sachs, the bank that engineered the financial crisis in Greece which the entire European has found itself incapable to solve.


I welcome him. With the likes of Anenih, Dora, Yar'Adua, I really see no reason why not.

Like I pointed out in another post, Lagosians, not by any particular unique trait, but because it has always been part of our culture of openess, have always been pioneering spirits in all spheres of life.

This man is CLEARLY NO LAGOSIAN, as there is no indigenous family in Lagos State that will instinctively welcome the acquisition of debt. It is totally antithetical to what LAGOSIANS stand for in the area of personal and public finance. "Omo o ni ba gbese e ni ile" is actually a Lagos Yoruba proverb.

To the non-indigenous Lagosians who are trying to claim Lagos as their own, I suggest you go and find your own Awojobis, Gbadamosis, Sapara-Williamses, Folamis, Agustos, Obanikoros, and other champions of various spheres of life to help you develop your own locales as we have done. Like another person pointed out, you guys are just like Latinos in the US, and at no time was that made more obvious than during the last census, when we witnessed a mass exodus of Igbos from Lagos to their home states to be counted!!!!

You cannot eat your cake and have it. We are taking back our state from you lot, piece by piece, plot by plot. You all had better start working hard on developing your states, so that you can have something to fall back on when you are COMPELLED by prevailing circumstances to leave Lagos for the LAGOSIANS.

We have always been friendly, hospitable and all, but all that is now turning around to bite us in the ass. Well, it's only for a while. WE ARE LAGOSIANS, proud of it and we are now DETERMINED to claim back our state AT ALL LEVELS.

felele:

If this is impressive to some people, I shudder for Nigeria.

Apart from the fact that I am deeply opposed to Aganga being nominated on Lagos State's slot (he should go to Edo), I am shocked at these sort of irresponsible utterances emanating from him, in a country where "leaders" have a known predilection for running up odious debts and looting same.

He is UTTERLY IRRESPONSIBLE and appears to have come home just to join the feeding frenzy.

WE STILL HAVE NO MINISTERIAL NOMINEE INDIGENOUS TO LAGOS STATE. THIS IS A CLEAR BREACH OF SECTION 147(3) OF THE CONSTITUTION!! JONATHAN, TAKE NOTE!!

Abegi!!!

A man with a Yoruba name, from an area that is synonymous with Yorubas, that was born and bred in Lagos all is life and is highly educated is good enough for me to take a post as Minister under Lagos allocation.

What is more important to me is can he do the job extremely well, not whether "it is our allocation".

felele:

during the last census, when we witnessed a mass exodus of Igbos from Lagos to their home states to be counted!!!!

All those that are guilty of this should somehow be excluded from benefiting from any kind of allocation allocated to Lagos based on population size, or be individually taxed heavily to make up for any funding gap. If there was a way to do it, that is.

The guy is not edo and there has been another "aganga" that ran for Lagos govenor (PDP) in 2007 - he was yoruba also.

I dont know why people get on the internet and start believing trash that PDP lagos said.

Im a Lagosian and THERE ARE AGANGAS who are considered Lagosians.

felele:

It is you, Igbokwe and Akabueze who will need to wake up very shortly.

Both these guys were not appointed by Lagosians, but by another non-Lagosian usurper, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to aid him in the looting of Lagos and the emasculation of Lagos State indigenes. I hope you will be able to recognise it for what it is when the coming conflagaration begins to consume you and your ilk.

Joker!

@Sun of god
I agree with you on this one.  G.W. Bush proved that it is not a developed or developing country problem, if you live off debt you will ruin your economy, at least eventually. That is why government should be the spender of last resort.

I don't know what "efficient" use the government can put money to - governments don't spend money well, anywhere. In Nigeria's case it gets stolen.

Yes, watch him very well. Being a good banker doesn't necessarily make you a good economic administrator, though one would expect that to be so.

The rest of his speech makes a lot of sense.

Sun of god:

He thinks Nigeria's debts are minute? Does he want Nigeria's debts on par with the US/UK?

NIGERIA SHOULD NOT BE INDEBTED TO ANYONE!!! Calculate the billions stolen and then calculate are national debt.

His every move needs to be watched and scrutinized.

Look beyond the fancy oyibo,

I hope they will give him the minisry of finance. He sounds like he understands basic economics.

Impressive speech. Sort of reminds me of Sanusi's own Speech way back when he was first appointment. Don't we all love dem speeches? lol

felele:

He should go to Edo because he is indigenous to Edo, and that would satisfy the requirements of Section 147 (3) of the Constitution.

Mr. Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga may well be a Yoruba man, going by the evidence presented starkly by his name. However, this alone does not confer indigeneship of Lagos State upon him. The last time "powers-that-be" foisted a non-Lagosian upon us in Lagos, we ended up with Bola Tinubu's eight years of drift.

Bola Tinubu's 2 term s in Lagos state was never a "drift" as you claimed.It is your own illusion to claim that Tinubu is no more a lagos citizen.Then please tell me what a Lagos indigene is?
Micheal Otedola,Dapo sarumi,Funso Williams etc were all lagos indigene and what have they done for Lagos state?


In case you are too blinded by your hatred for Tinubu,he set the foundation on which fashola is building.He is a progressive who developed a masterplan to take Lagos from its present archaic level to a mega city level.
He developed the Eko Atlantic City Project,Lagos-Badagry Light rail Project,Sustainable Waste Mgt Project,City beautification Project,etc and started some before his tenure finished.
He fought OBJ to a standstill sequel to the 2007 general elections that brought in ambitious Raji fashola.


If Tinubu is not a lagosians,can u please tell us what your "real" Lagosians have done to better or surpass what BAT has done.In the world and class of Bola Ahmed Tinubu,the real Lagosians including Olabode-George,OBJ,Dapo Sarumi,are political midgets.

Sagamite:

Abegi!!!

A man with a Yoruba name, from an area that is synonymous with Yorubas, that was born and bred in Lagos all is life and is highly educated is good enough for me to take a post as Minister under Lagos allocation.

What is more important to me is can he do the job extremely well, not whether "it is our allocation".

May God bless and increase your intellect,

There are however many aganga's who are Lagosians.Lagos PDP didnt support the guy because he wasnt their candidate.I'll support the guy because he has a befitting CV to take ministerial appointments.