From Noah Ebije, Kaduna

 

 

National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has admitted that the nation’s economy is weak, adding that it is responsible for insecurity and youth unemployment across the country.

He noted that private sector organisations are more affected by the situation, thereby making it difficult for them to help the government get out of the weak economy.

Making these submissions yesterday in his remarks as the chairman of the 2021 Sardauna Annual Memorial Lecture, held at Arewa House, Kaduna, Tinubu said the Federal Government should act fast by pumping funds into national projects and programmes to encourage employment.

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Commenting on the topic of the lecture, “Reduction of the Cost of Governance for Inclusive Growth and Youth Development in Northern Nigeria in a Post-COVID-19 Era,” Tinubu said: “It is more than timely, particularly given the serious security challenges that have become one of the primary causes of despair and frustration among all Nigerians – young and old alike.”

He recalled that the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic compounded the different challenges, which confronted the country and pointed out that “President Muhammadu Buhari has been carefully steering the country through the ‘pandemic’ such that the negative impact on us and the economy has not been as harsh as it might have been.”

Tinubu, however, added: “The economy’s relapse into recession has ended but we must admit the economy remains weak with too much unemployment and resources left idle. The development of any populous nation has always been dependent on the ability of government to allocate sufficient funds to projects and programmes that create and encourage enduring growth and employment.

“We must reject that mode of thinking that assumes government expenditure is inherently unproductive as well as harmful to the overall economy.”