Nigerians yesterday reacted to President Muhammadu Buhari’s economic growth projections contained in his Independence broadcast. While some glaring gaps in the president’s outlines, others pointed out areas of possible adjustment.According to Mr Louis Essene, President of Junior Chambers International (JCI), Warri chapter, Buhari’s economic growth projections should be backed up with economic decisions and actions to given them some teeth. He said “Concerning the economic projections to make Nigeria one of the world’s 20 best economies, Buhari should go beyond rhetorics.
“These projections should be backed up with economic facts and we are in dire need of economic-growth minded people in the president’s team to achieve this feat.
“As a Nigerian, the Nigerian project is our dream, perusing through the independence speech it brings to the fore that there are so many indices to put in place to achieve economic growth in the country.,” Essene said.
Similarly, Dr Salami Afegbua, a public administrator, called on the government to tackle the socio-economic and political challenges facing the country.
“Nigeria’s economy is a mono-driven economy; however, the country will not move forward economically if it does nothing to diversify its economy.
“President Buhari’s speech will only remain rhetorics if practical and committed actions are not taken to address the above contentious issues,” Afegbua said.
Also commenting, Mr Enoch Adewunmi, a public commentator, said tackling security issues in the country and provision of basic amenities for Nigerians will move the country forward. “We wanted the president to speak out about the specific security issues we face in the country and not just generalise them.
“We should not compare ourselves with countries that sell their oil at high prices because they have better amenities and infrastructure than we do.
“We cannot be a country that depends only on oil if we want our economy to growth as projected in the president’s speech,” Adewunmi said.