Government policies are not working – Bala Mohammed

Bala Mohammed, the governor of Bauchi State has decried the increasing poverty in Nigeria, stating that the economic policies of the President Bola Tinubu-led administration was not yielding the desired results.

Mohammed disclosed this at the launch of the Nigeria Development Update report by the World Bank in Abuja on Thursday.

According to him, the revenues available to state governments are not enough to address the challenges in states, adding that Nigerians were far from enjoying the Tinubu-led administration.

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“We should go back to the basics. Nigerians are not enjoying the regime at the time across board, not only the federal government, including the states and local governments. Therefore, the onus rests on you, the finance and the managers of the economy.

“We need to come up with a budget program with economic policies that will reduce hardship. The money that we are sharing, is not enough. The report spoke about employment, wages, how many percent of Nigerians are even employed? Most of our people live in the informal sector, we should look at how we can make them self-employed.

“The purchasing power has dwindled, these policies are not working and you know that.”

According to the report titled ‘staying the course: progress and pressing challenges’, the World bank Group decried the increasing lack of productive jobs in Nigeria, which it said could turn the nation’s demographic dividend into a demographic burden.

Alex Sienaert, chief economist of the World Bank, who presented the Nigeria Development Update, stated that to achieve the desired growth in the nation’s economy, the recently introduced macroeconomic stabilisation reforms should be backed up by creating productive jobs.

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The report showed that even though Nigeria’s labour force is shifting to service, available jobs are low productive.

According to the report, poverty reducing labour market policies are needed urgently to harness the potential of Nigeria’s young population. “In the next 10 years, the number of 15-24 year old Nigerians is set to increase by more than 12 million.

“The high number of working age people relative to those who are too young or too old to work and give Nigeria a sizeable demographic dividend. Lack of productive jobs could turn the demographic dividend to a demographic burden,” it stated.

The report also highlighted the need for structural reforms, such as reducing trade barriers, improve infrastructure, improve business environment and support household businesses to unleash Nigeria’s inclusive growth.