President Muhammadu Buhari said Wednesday in New Delhi that despite the fall in oil prices, his Administration remains fully committed to maintaining macro-economic stability and improving investor confidence in Nigeria.
At an interactive session with Chief Executives of Indian companies with interests in Nigeria, President Buhari expressed the belief that with its abundance of human and material resources, the Nigerian economy does not have to suffer unduly from low oil prices, despite its severe impact on government revenues.
“What is required of us, to which we are strongly committed, is the implementation of tight expenditure controls, effective fiscal and monetary policies, including the husbandry of scarce resources which our introduction of the Single Treasury Account has began to address.
“We are aware some of these measures may hurt operations of some businesses in the short term, but we believe they are right for a sustainable economy,” the President said.
Noting that India has been a dependable ally and friend of Nigeria, President Buhari urged the Chief Executives to expand their companies’ investments in Nigeria “so that we can, together, turn our engagements into a win-win situation for our two countries”.
“We can increase and diversify the current volume of our bilateral trade beyond US$16.36 billion, and diversify to other critical sectors such as agriculture; green technologies in power generation; infrastructure; information and communications technologies; the services sector; education; industry, especially textiles and solid minerals among others,” the President told them.
President Buhari also urged the Indian CEOs, to accept the changes in policy being introduced by his administration and observe all extant Nigerian laws in running their business in the country.
He warned, particularly, that his administration will not tolerate the importation of sub-standard goods, especially foods and medicines, into Nigeria.