Nigeria Needs Sound Financial System to Attract Investments , Budget Minister Urges NFIU

Nigeria’s Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Sen. Abubakar Bagudu, emphasized that Nigeria needs to attract more resources to fund its development agenda. He stated that achieving this requires the development of a sound financial system with integrity.

Speaking at the management retreat of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) in Abuja, Bagudu remarked, “Our Agenda 2050, a statement of our national aspiration, requires that we invest at least 100 billion dollars annually to achieve a GDP per capita of $33,000 or more by 2050.” He added, “we are nowhere near that.”

He acknowledged that the current financing level is insufficient but noted that President Bola Tinubu’s administration has initiated bold economic reforms to increase revenue. “However, we still need to be where we should be; we are not near the kind of flows we expect,” the Minister pointed out.

Bagudu cited the $20 billion federal budget as being inadequate in comparison to countries like Brazil and Indonesia, which have budgets of $750 billion and $210 billion, respectively, despite having similar population sizes.

He explained that Nigeria needs a robust financial system to attract both domestic and foreign investments to support its development plan. “The plan is to use private sector or capital market money to fund the plan. Because of that, we need confidence, integrity, and soundness in our financial system,” he said, also noting that “the rating agencies could be more generous with us, maybe not only with us but with all countries.”

Bagudu highlighted the role of the NFIU, praising its performance but stressing the need for better communication of its activities to the public. “Our credit rating should improve. We have taken measures similar to those in countries that have achieved significant increases in credit ratings. We have established and committed institutions, particularly the NFIU, and should benefit from them,” he stated.

He concluded, “Communication matters, so we reinforce and punish wrongdoing while drawing attention to our great work to enhance the integrity and soundness of our financial assistance.”