Subsidy Removal Effects, Tinubu Presidency | Politics Today

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foreign

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office is warning against more boring

saying we might just be getting out of

the threshold our aim comparison to

Nigeria's GDP

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not your Governor's vice president

kashim shatima today met with American

billionaire and philanthropist Mr Bill

Gates a second collaboration and help on

public health in Nigeria

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hello everyone welcome to the program

this is politics today live on channels

television

in Abuja so much to talk about and so

much reporting update we shall be

bringing to you right here on the

program so stick around with me with a

60-minute drive and I hope that it won't

be as bumpy as uh well it will it won't

be any bump here anyway so we get right

into it everyone and let's bring you up

to speed with what is happening in

France with Nigeria's number one citizen

president the president has landed at

the venue of the Paris Summit where you

will be meeting with uh world leaders

and are discussing uh quadrons of

development uh due to covid-19 pandemic

impact

um of course the

special advisor to the president on

Communications and strategy Mr Delia

lucky has been speaking on expectations

at that Summit

the president wants to network with the

international finance corporations you

countries that are well healed that

would facilitate or that could

facilitate direct foreign investment

into Nigeria don't forget that the Mr

President has taken some very bold steps

in the area of economy and the area of

social social engineering in the last

three weeks Mr presidents policies in

the last three weeks really

have encouraged this foreign Nations and

investors to become more interested in

the Affairs of Nigeria ensuring of the

economy of Nigeria so a lot of them are

quite interested so many of them have

even indicated interest to meet with Mr

President in this trip just upstairs now

we were you know having a meeting with

the president on you know structuring

some of these meetings with heads of

States at the last count about three

four different heads of states of

developed countries have indicated

willingness to meet with him have a chat

with him and explore areas of

cooperation on the economy on

agriculture on other areas that are

Salient to the development of of

Nigeria's economy

special advisor on special duties

Communications and strategy speaking uh

from France where the president is away

is expected to be back in the country on

uh Saturday but of course we know that

there's been some side meetings that

have been going on the president has met

also with the president of the afri exam

bank and some other uh very key

financial

stakeholders uh heads of financial

institution Global financial

institutions bring you up to speed right

here on China's television about those

activities

what when the debt management office is

warning the federal government about

borrowing threshold how much we can go

and how far we can go in terms of what

we can borrow uh it costs for caution

isn't it and we'll be bringing you a

breakdown of what it is where we are at

how much of that body that the buhari

government has left at the Chernobyl

government has inherited the warnings of

the DMO they've also always said that

we're just within the limit but they

have now come out to one that we are

going to be in trouble if we get to a

certain level because of the rate of our

revenue is not matching up with the the

speed of and the rate of our borrowings

then the trouble is looming that one is

coming we'll be getting perspectives on

that of course Mr Bill Gates is a

Nigeria he's being in Nigeria and he's

met with the vice president alongside

some Club State Governors and there's

one thing that they have been praying

for and begging Mr Bill Gates what will

be hearing details of that after we

check out your political random stories

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the acting Inspector General of police

is

asking officers and Men of the force to

remain professional and live above board

in the discharge of their professional

duties he made the statement while

decorating some senior police officers

including former police spokesperson Mr

frankenbach and former police

commissioner in charge of the federal

capital territory Mr balachiroma who

were promoted to Deputy Inspector

General of police positions Mr betika

says there's a need for police officers

to ensure the maintenance of security at

all times the type of State Governor Mr

advocate for says his administration

will introduce reforms that will lead to

the transformation of all sectors of the

state's economy to make it competitive

with other states in the Federation this

follows his discovery of dilapidated

facilities poor enumeration and working

environment when he paid an unshadowed

visits to the state Secretariat

Specialist Hospital and School of

Nursing free in jalingo the state

capital you can see that almost all the

offices the staffs are there they are

willing to work but they need a drive a

direction president has been called upon

to prioritize the inclusion of persons

with disabilities in his appointments in

order to Foster an all-inclusive and

representative government this demand

was made during the stakeholder

strategic Roundtable on disability

inclusion organized by the chief

executive officer of the albino

Foundation Mr Jake epile in Abuja in a

bit to ensure improved welfare for all

Nigerians The inter-party Advisory

council ipac is calling on all elected

political office holders to take steps

and poverty protect the planet and

ensure that all people enjoy peace and

prosperity by 2030 at the inauguration

of the peer review mechanism committees

on sustainable development goals

implementation by presidents Governors

and other elected leaders the national

chairman of ipac Mr yabagi Sani says

Party leaders have a crucial role to

play in the implementation of the sdgs

and the Civil Society group under the

ages of sincere concerned organization

has given Governor hopeless Odom of

female State a one-month ultimatum to

fully implement the white paper report

on the commission of inquiry on contract

Awards alleged Looting of IMO assets and

recovery of stolen property worth 130

billion naira during the tenure of

former governor of IMO State Mr Rochas

okorocha at a press conference nowhere

the IMO state capital the representative

of the director general of the group Mr

Destiny in zenwa says it is unfortunate

that those that allegedly looted the

assets and money of the states are still

walking free and even planning to return

to Power by proxy if

after the exploration of the

of the fund the

we shall take all lawful steps to ensure

that Justice is served

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thanks so much everyone inec at the

independent National electoral

commission says that it is held a

meeting today of the commission and it

has decided to begin a review of the

general elections of

2023 this is what I call a usual

practice since the general election of

2011. a commission says the postmortem

for the election will involve political

parties and within inec and of course

stakeholders Civil Society organization

to look at what went wrong and what can

be corrected he said at the state levels

the internal review will involve the

commissions regular and at Oak staff

including Rex the 7 174 electoral

officers heads of departments

administrative secretaries as well as

some presiding officers Collision

returning officers will be included

external engagement will involve

critical stakeholders such as political

party security agencies election

observers the media and service

providers such as Transporters that

facilitated the movement of personnel

and materials for the election

all right then let's tell you that the

presidency has come out to deny any plan

or any action in respect of a review of

the salaries of politicians the

presidency in a statement release and

signed by Mr Delia lucky says hasn't

been any form of increment or approval

for president

the presidency says and I quote

we stayed without any equivocation that

president has not approved any salary

increase and no such proposal has been

brought before him for consideration end

of quote

well then let's tell you that today

American billionaire philanthropist Mr

Bill Gates met with the vice president

kashim shatima alongside several State

Governors and their focus is being on

health financing and the public health

in Nigeria there's been a lot of issues

in relation to polio and other diseases

and they're looking on how to tackle and

beat down this disease and some other

health challenges that most Nigerians

are facing in several parts of the

country and so the vice president has a

few things to say in respect of the

support of Mr Bill Gates in the past and

what they are looking for

and the present take a listen to the

vice president

because of this collaborative advantages

and utilization of our combined

resources and I assure you that we are

going to utilize the national economy

Council to which I an interview 36 state

government commitments

these commitments appeared on the

Promises to achieve a polio opening

Nigeria

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declaration which demands our governance

prioritize Primary Health Care

guaranteeing initial language and

surface while no family is unable to

access cancer and why every Community

thrives in a place of wellness and

prosperity

they said Governors also had a few

things to say in respect of Health

Public Health funding in Nigeria take a

listen to them

I want to encourage my foreign

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so much the numbers are there we have

really addressed our human capital guts

in terms of meeting the required human

capital to serve our Primary Health Care

system

we need your support for small Quantum

Farmers to improve their lead have

access to markets and income improve

nutrition on their children I hope our

aspirations

to life to lead to life continuity

we need to have supported creating a

certain excellence in my degree belief

in your Real Estate College of

Agriculture portraying the detention

workers in modern agriculturality I

indeed

Ibrahimovic

or need help we want difficult to call

and give us part of this services

secondly

all agriculture

we all know

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what I predominantly subsistent funds

I will need to improve on that level

you had the governance there at that

meeting basically they are seeking help

on how to tackle some of the major

health

disease in the country

but today there is a rather a warring

scenario playing out and there is is

based on the debt profile of the country

and a debt management office has come

out to give a warning and the warning is

about a threshold of our debts to GDP

and they are now warning that based on

the uh the lack of progress or speed in

achieving the kind of Revenue that

Nigeria needs to achieve there needs to

be a caution on the rate of borrowing in

the country so in the report that was

released by the debt management office

uh the uh one in the federal government

citing that 73.5 percent of this year

Revenue will be used to service debt

according to the DMO these are dead

service to revenue ratio is

unsustainable and poses a threat to

death sustainability

and suggested that raising the projected

revenue from of the federal government

from

10.49 trillion to about 15.5 trillion

would be the way to go to be able to

sustain that ratio they have made some

uh recommendations to the federal

government in respect of the present

state of our debt some of which you're

seeing right here on the screen the

total debt budding of the country and in

fact whatever said you you come from in

Nigeria as of December 2022 you will see

a dead body of your state there are the

sub-national debt budding and the total

debt burning of the country states and

federal government altogether

let's get some perspectives to these

Health funding the debt budding and a

lot of issues that Nigeria this one is

coming don't forget that there was a

time that the government says look we

might be borrowing yes

but there isn't any problem because our

debt service into GDP ratio is still at

the normal level we have not crossed the

threshold the DMO is saying look we

accept if we shift

our Revenue to about 15.5 trillion

that is accountable threshold that we

can be but if it's at that 10.49

trillion projection we might be in

trouble

I'm not an economist and I I don't know

much about numbers let me bring in

someone who who has a very good

understanding of these issues I mean

Java and Economist Mr Taco a former

president thank you so much Mr for

joining us thank you very much

yeah how does it come to you I will get

to Nigeria and the request of the state

Governors is some national they are

seeking help the vice president is

talking about how we can find healthy

situation don't forget that health and

education funding in Nigeria is at this

man that the funding is terribly low and

there are those who have said if you

need to develop as a people you need to

heavily fund education

the livelihoods and the wealthy of the

people is important to productivity

absolutely let's put that aside for a

moment we'll get there but let's look at

the one coming from the debt management

office it's the first one

from we are okay we are not okay

well thank you very much so the point is

that um it's a bit intriguing if you

know if I might use that word uh that uh

DMO that would usually support

government you know on our on our way to

where we are today and they will tell

you uh you know the emphasis on debt to

GDP and all of that is suddenly changing

talk but perhaps it's strategic because

I understand that they just released the

report and maybe they are trying to

hedge their position by by quickly

telling the government the the worst

case scenario uh but if you read what

they've put out for me you know honestly

I must tell you uh in times past I used

to think that the death scenario was

really really uh unsustainable but I

went back and studied history the

history of debts and I think I put out

some articles in that respect and uh you

know I found out that look we could

still do a lot more

um the demo is warning that the debt

level has become 37.1 percent of GDP

um you know and Nigeria set for itself

40 percent uh you know benchmark to say

we shouldn't cross 40 if you look around

Africa alone you will see that other

countries have been able to leverage

their balance sheet you see so the

balance sheet of a country is as good as

the balance sheet of the company and

when you look at those two a

serious-minded company we look at this

balance sheet and say hey do I have a

good balance sheet am I bankable so it's

about Bank ability okay so first of all

let's put aside the discussion on on on

Revenue to GDP or revenue or debt

servicing for example debt servicing to

to revenue Ratio or debt to revenue

ratio that's that's a good discussion to

say of course we know that you service

your debt using your Revenue that's

given okay so we have have a mandate to

drive revenue and Diego has said that we

have to look at driving revenue from 10

trillion to 15.5 trillion for me I'd say

that look you know you cannot allow your

past to Define your future we've had an

abysmal run thus far I believe that the

gentleman that is there now by President

will if you see the way he has hit the

ground running in fact I surprised

almost everybody and therefore I think

that he's Thinking Beyond 15 trillion I

think that if you give you know a good

year in this country we should be

looking at 20 trillion 25 30 trillion of

Revenue and those areas are there so but

backwards you know I'll let you know

back to the issue of debt you know when

you have this debt to GDP ratio

it's a valid ratio and what countries do

with it is that they use it to leverage

their balance sheet like I said before

you can't run the company and your

company your balance is looking bankable

but you refuse to go to the bank and say

you know what it's because you're not

doing any new project so like you said

we have a problem with education we have

a problem with health I mean look at the

state Governors begging Mr Bill Gates

come and help us our people are in the

bush you have to help yourself at the

end of the day you have to develop your

human capital you have to develop

infrastructure and in fact you know what

you sometimes you may even need to

borrow money in order to drive your

Revenue

so whatever you need to do so now the

focus is not on borrowing money the new

government is not coming out to say oh

we want to just go I mean look at what

happened with the last government they

leaned on the central bank and before

you know it the central bank had given

out 23.7 trillion

from indeed from its 790 billion

position when uh Goodluck Jonathan left

we took it to

27.23.7 trillion governor governor

baseki had said about twice that the CBN

was printing money indeed indeed the

truth was that the CBN you know give or

take I'm not their spokesman had no

choice but to print money because the

government had no idea how to grow

Revenue so Governor every time you write

that every time you every time every

time you will hear that the former

Minister of Finance we have a revenue

problem what are you doing about it she

did try and there was a time that she

wanted to put a certain uh tax line in

the finance Act of 2022 but the minister

for communication shut it down in in you

know in public to say that look that's

not going to happen you can't put any

more taxes in telecommunications they

put so much so many taxis I wouldn't

allow this one and the president could

not come in to say you guys what are you

talking about we need Revenue in the

country that was a good tax that they

want to bring that and even though it

was going to be on on phone calls and

text and so five percent which most

people will not feel but they shut it

down so they were not serious because

they always had the central bank to run

blackmail to go and say listen give up

otherwise we would have had many for

many years would not have been able to

pay policeman salary or soldier salary

or even civil servant salary all of that

money was and of course they got unlucky

coveted hit and so when covet hit

everything was saying while before then

from 2016 the mismanagement of the

economy had started more than we were

used to before of course people felt

Jonathan was incompetent referred was go

slow we even felt so passenger was a bit

tepid in terms of the kind of growth we

needed that's a job perhaps is still the

Halcyon Days if you think about it now

but but okay but I think that we have a

new list of life here and the people who

are there I mean you saw them in France

they look like serious-minded people

these they are the president is a deal

maker the man wants to do great things

the kind of numbers he's not talking

about like I said don't let your past

Define your future all right the fact

that we've been abysma would have been

suboptimal in the past the past that

will be mediocre in the past does not

mean that we can't do this so and I'd

like to ask you yeah let me just

conclude this one second the fact is

that this Nigerian balance sheet I'm

seeing at 37.1 percent debt to GDP ratio

after adding everything including the

ways that means cost about 177 billion

dollars

that number that balancing can be

leveraged we can raise good money with

that balance sheet and do great

development in this country indeed so I

mean if you take a lot of creativity

isn't it absolutely so when the

government when the government says we

have a revenue property now the DMO has

come back and I've had several

conversations on this program to talking

to people who understand policy I will

understand finance and uh government

accounting on how we can we have a major

problem but how do we get out of it it

needs a lot of creativity we've removed

subsidy there is inflation in the land

is gotten as bad I mean it couldn't have

been worse than it's been in the last 15

years is astronomical But Where Do We Go

From Here use you seem to have seen a

crystal ball what does this Crystal Ball

tells you where is the money where are

you seeing the money you've talked about

almost 30 trillion where are we going to

get honestly you know so I've been

reading a lot about what's going on in

the maritime sector alone in this

country the Customs you know the abiru

committee actually recommended that the

custom be fused with IFRS like it is

done in the UK and so on hmrc and Cohen

you know so within custom and look we're

losing a lot of money nimasa MTA not to

talk of you know the aviation sector as

well there are so many there's so many

leakages do you know that in this

country less than less than 20 percent

of registered companies you know take PE

from their staff or even remit that that

means you have 80 to go for less than 15

of registered companies actually pay

taxes those who pay taxes are those who

have to that's because they're looking

for government contract you have a small

gas board

okay a raft of ideas to pursue on

company income taxes on petroleum profit

taxes look at the petroleum sector now

all of a sudden thankfully we went back

to being the biggest producer in Africa

in the month of May you know in April we

dropped down to second to Angola now

we're back to 1.3 million Aussie yeah in

the month of May 1.3 million if we can

capacitate that sector and the new

president is an oil man he has said that

listen I'm ready to do deals with these

guys if I'm taking 60 before I can take

40 percent he said if I get the money

out I can do what they call deferred

profit I can raise money based on my

default profit that I haven't actually

made but based on the deals that I've

done look it's about creativity running

a country and developing a country is

about creativity it's not about you know

if it's just about resuming to work you

know carrying files up and down and

paying salaries for those who are not

working and at the end of the day you

rule your your faith you know but

there's so many places we can look ever

RS and I've had some discussions with

them before you can take they did the

best numbers last year 10.1 trillion in

FRS hello that's one agency of

government yeah well of course that is

where you kind of agglomerate most of it

but there are many goes government-owned

and you can see what children who has

done we've won one Fear One Fell Swoop

wrote One member and said take all those

guys out buhari could not suck even the

people that were appointed by PDP in

2015.

let these guys go and rest he wants to

bring in new blood so so so so two

things we have the temple we have the

FRS 10.1 trillion they target 12 12

trillion this year you can challenge

them to do 16 17 trillion then you can

go to all those goes those

government-owned Enterprises who will

collect revenue on behalf of the people

of this country and spend 95 percent on

themselves I wanted to add to what I

mean your line of thought maybe you can

expatiate on that there are those who

are

suggesting that there are assets of this

nation that are morable some of them

absolutely not performing that we could

sell I mean is that a way to go well I

called the god I call that terrible mix

which after my senior brother Dr ayote

River you know he has been pushing that

and he talked about Equity as against

that so here we are talking about debt

which is what the remnant of the DMO is

you know let's go and raise that you

know which are short-term transactions

you know and stuff like that so they are

talking about you can raise Equity okay

by actually selling off two problems

number one remember that our people are

very very aware and feisty as well if

you're talking about selling Government

properties forever you are going to say

listen you're selling this you're

selling the family heirloom uh what

Authority do you have to do that however

what I found out was in Brazil that is

just in the remit of the nipc Nigeria

investment promotion Council should list

alongside the other investment

opportunities that they have to say that

look we have Jacob is there more even

sitting down if a 100 billion naira

project billion dollars project sitting

down there you can as well settle that

up because we can't run it the model by

which countries used to run companies

before like refineries is gone forever

especially for us because we did not

build the capacity to be able to run

these things on our own all of our

refineries are more even now because we

don't manufacture those equipment if we

want to there's a Houston you will see

refineries that have been around for 100

years we've run around for 40 years 50

years and they are down some of them

vandalized forever though we're waiting

until maybe November this year when the

nmpc MD said that kaduna will be back in

operation but hey refineries can no

longer be run by civil servants in any

way it can be so before

refineries you can't just sell one thing

and everything four refineries are not

working workers are being retained in on

in their hundreds honestly they're

paying salaries they're going to that is

their money I mean what kind of bring

them up what kind of like I said civil

servants cannot ever run refineries

again refine is that serious reason see

what dangote has built in Lagos you

can't put civil servants there who

probably get there any time they want to

probably tag some of the equipments

because you didn't promote them or send

them to a minister I've spoken to a

minister who said in an interview that

our refineries

are largely destroyed by sabote to us

absolutely that's what I'm saying

we'll take a break and we look at what

you know who can do there are those who

believe that Nigerians will have to

tighten their bets the more that tough

times ahead he's going to take another

six months of us fill in the paint and

it's going to get as worse before it got

started getting better I'll get your own

perspective I know you don't quite agree

with that school of thought oh take a

break everyone when we come back so I

wouldn't know so much about public

sector uh Public Health sector financing

and how to run a public health sector in

this country he's been in the private

sector he's been a politician but what

it Governors are crying for seeking help

from Mr Bill Gates how can we run around

this how can we kill polio in this

country totally we'll be getting more

perspective it's the first one I think

you need to be looking at all of these

issues on the table tonight we'll be

right back

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foreign

for staying with us I have two doctors

on the program one is a medical doctor

and one is a doctor of public policy Dr

Tucker password has been speaking with

us on the program he's an economics and

a public policy expert and I've been

joined by a senator

chairman on public health uh yeah former

senator from kwara State APC member who

joins us virtually from Saudi Arabia

thank you so much Senator Ibrahim thank

you so much indeed

thank you for having me there is an

interesting news thank you so much that

is an interesting link between issues of

public financing and administration

that's Mr uh first one has been speaking

with us about but there is another angle

to that issue which is the health sector

financing and the tackling uh a very

very disturbing disease like polio that

has really Disturbed this country and at

some point people will look at maybe a

few States in Nigeria that are still

battling that disease now so Mr Bill

Gates was a night I mean he's in Nigeria

and there are conversations with

Governors and the vice president was

there and they're also seeking a

collaboration and help from Mr Bill

Gates give us an understanding of this

kind of collaboration as a yielded

result

from the point of view of the

subnationals the state governments

uh I think you put two things in one yes

the support are the Indians from Resorts

particularly what I would say is the

technical aspect because what a country

like Nigeria is a middle not to call

middle level it's not a low-income

country per se I'm sure Francois will

agree to that but of course things have

iterated a little bit in the first few

years so given that it's only about our

getting our resources out together and

allocating it appropriately so the

support we get from Partners has been of

help particularly from technical

perspective from developing good

policies from learning about

interventions that work in other

countries and applying it to our country

and helping us to be able to put our

thought process together but build that

as it may I may just jump to say that

what you are discussing from the second

part is about what are we allocating to

health both International and sub

National level particularly level what

being allocated to health is very very

small Nigeria committee 2001 to allocate

15 percent of budget to health we've

never ever achieved that in millions of

national level is less than five percent

even at the national level it has

raising to six to seven percent so it

means we are now allocating enough and

what we are allocating is not also being

used effectively and efficiently so if

you want to get a health

first and foremost we have to increase

our location and some national level

that the governors are meeting there's a

mechanism that we development called

basic Healthcare professional fund it is

to be able to put an additional

resources to health which is one percent

of Consolidated a new fund of the

federal government and state federal

government since 2018 has been committed

to do that but particularly from 2020 it

has become a statutory transfer and one

percent of the consultant revenue is

allocated for primary health care for

business as a basic CARE program for

this is in addition to the regular head

project unfortunately at subnational

level it's not been acting like that

many states are not applied that one

percent and

budget is also small and they are using

even the one percent that is coming from

National as a replacement rather than

eating an adult they didn't add their

own so this is part of the challenges

that we have so uh

doctor I want to say is that we need

require support of Partners leaving our

level population at the poverty level

but we have to do more for ourselves we

must do more by allocating more

resources and by using those resources

efficiently and effectively to achieve

the results we need to achieve

ment um

you start as the chair of the senate

committee on health uh for four years

now

has been a major concern a major

headache for Nigeria for the

sub-nationals and the vice president

said by the end of 2023 the plan of the

federal government is to end polio in

Nigeria don't forget that by end of 2020

there was a declaration that Nigeria is

no longer in danger of uh endemic uh

polio but by 2022 there is a strain of

polio virus that I'm taking almost 165

or more people lives in Nigeria they're

affected of over 165 people that means

that it sees some trouble but what the

vice president said today and the target

of the end of 2023 is that feasible

is suitable if the right things are done

what we have let me just correct it we

don't have wide world of violence again

what we have the 165 for the figures we

are putting is what we call vaccine

derived Polo virus I mean which is as a

sort of a mutation that happened from

vaccine and it does affect children that

are zero dose who has never had a

vaccination of polio so if possible and

doable if the right things are done one

is to be able to get the Primary Health

Care system to function well of course

the problem eradication program has been

more of a practical program but we need

to strengthen the system if you

strengthen the system it means we have

health workers that are well trained uh

in every facilities that cover or I mean

every Community has access to that we

have vaccines easily available the

vaccines must be important that is must

be effective that means we have to

maintain the protein and we have to be

able to get the vaccines to the children

that need them everywhere in the country

a lot of the challenges we've had with

while we have this person derived

because of the zero doses because of the

conflict people who have we have to read

the conflict area of course during the

polo campaign the conflict areas were

Rich using some mechanism engaging with

the stakeholders there so we need to do

more of this it is possible like the

next six months if we strengthen the

system and we work through the system

with the experience we've had in the

last years we should be able to achieve

the target the vice president has given

but look at the manner in which the

governors have approached it they are

seeking help

I mean

is it that bad Public Health financing

in Nigeria uh to the point that we're

seeking that help uh some kind of

handout Mr Francois has spoken to that

to that effect uh how much of those kind

of funding in the past have been

judiciously used

yeah I don't think it's as bad as that I

think if we generally improve our

Revenue sources then health education

other social sector will benefit more

from allocation uh it's bad because the

revenue has been dwindling and many of

the state department

hand depending on the Federal locations

they are not looking just like the first

one is saying once we look at the

national level

so Nationals have to look at the

revenues a lot of they need they need to

make out of the box to generate more

Revenue to be able to meet their needs

in terms of what the services they need

to do about their people of course the

revenue that will come from the national

which is what they share from federal

education based on what the president is

doing now as fashion has said I think

the president will grow the

International Revenue that will increase

my location to the state but then State

themselves must think out of the box and

look at other sources how they can

generate Revenue some states have

demonstrated this

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what is putting down you convert it to

naira from my calculation it's very

small if you look at our population and

the Health Net so as such we must

increase our own revenue and increase

I'm going to get more money and locate

it appropriately to the sectors that

will increase our productivity which

will be health and education Senator uh

and I will be very Frank now I mean

anyone who has money as uh I mean has a

right to use the money in whatever way

they want to use it either for leisure

or for tourism or even for medical

tourism as the case may be but what is

very sad is a brain drain that we are

experiencing the fact that a lot of

Nigerians don't trust

public health system in Nigeria they do

not believe that their lives are safe

getting medical help in Nigeria and what

even wasn't it is that we have cases in

the past we are even leaders of the

country had to travel out of the country

to seek help medical help I mean this is

a very disgraceful scenario for a

country that is so blessed with very

good brains that can deal with these

issues but unfortunately we've been

bedeviled by lack of organization at the

very highest level such that our own

cannot be treated at room they have to

be flown abroad to be treated there is

that bad how can we stop this this is an

ISO don't you think

yeah it is but I'm privileged to have

information that the new government is

very much concerned about that issues

and there are plans to be able to turn

things around as fast as possible one is

oh there we lost their connection with

Senator Laura brother we'll get back to

him because that is a very important

point that a lot of Nigerians are

worried about you need to retain the

brain okay

means we need to be able to provide them

that enabling environment that will make

them to stay to work and every

environment in terms of necessary

equipment enable environment in terms of

uh

infrastructure that we enable them to do

what they know how to do but more

importantly they have to motivated in

terms of admiration as well and there

are issues that outside the sector like

the security must be taken care of but

specifically with the sector the plan is

to massively improve our infrastructure

in the tertiary Health chance that we

have across the country to equip them

with necessary equivalent as a plan to

have a special fund that will enable all

the potential hospital we have to have

necessary equipment for them to function

and to be able to do this there have a

partnership with the private sector this

is part of the plan that the current

Administration is planning to do and

there will also be a linkage between

Nigeria's and diaspora and Nigeria who

are working here because the

Technologies enable us to do what we

call telemessing in which case experts

can be outside the country but it should

be they could be able to link up with

experts between the country to lose a

lot of work I think in the next few

months it's one of the

medium term plan of business government

between the that's why yeah we should be

able to see the massive improvement in

our health infrastructure and we will

see more literature because there are a

plan to also be able to improve our

generations and not only salary but some

allowances that when labor health

workers to stay the country and for the

for those that are outside the country

to also be able to return or come back

to be able to give Services either in

and out of the country so these are some

of the plan which I'm privileged to have

information I'm sure of course things

will happen in the next few months I

mean I just wish that uh your optimism

uh is exactly what will play out in the

coming days Senator Ibrahim I'm very

optimistic because health is a very

important uh priority for this current

Administration and there are a lot of

plan that are already put in place to be

able to see how this will happen of

course it relates to the the the

president promised that he will increase

a sector body to 10 percent from the

first year and there are planned also to

discuss with the subnationals with us uh

we discussed earlier that the basic

Capital proficient fund should be made

to be what to be charged as fostered to

State resources from fact so that that

money goes straight for primary health

care if governments are going to this

minimum of the one percent of the plan

is to go to two percent we will have

massive Improvement in Primary Health

Care the current plan is to have one

first general Primary Health award but

the plan is that we take the first four

years of this Administration you should

increase to two but I want to be able to

increase not only physical assets but to

be able to make more effective uh

Healthcare delivery to the people

because some water are very big if you

have one functional one it may take more

than 10 kilometers for patient to you

that says that but if you have it to two

in the next four years it means you have

more access and will be able to improve

on the quality of services that we are

given to the people thank you thank you

so much uh I mean you look at the

sophistication in healthcare these days

and you wonder uh several cases of

misdiagnosis in this country people get

diagnosis in this country they get

abroad the diagnosis is totally

different from what they get and all

people are almost dead when they found

out that what they diagnosed them of in

Nigeria was totally different of what

they found out abroad just hoping that

it relates to infrastructure again it

relates to the availability of necessary

equipment the top class top level party

energy equipment that are available now

because the uh as there's a lot of

advancement giving technology giving

knowledge giving Innovation that

diagnosis are more specific than this

and even treatment are also very much

more specific less invasive power we

have people with knowledge of those ones

but they need to require equipment to be

able to get there and I think in there

just like I said I'm optimistic because

I'm preview to the plan of the current

Administration in terms of what to do in

health and I'm trying the next few

months we're going to see a massive

change in the situation of our headset

thank you I'm just because I'm a

Nigerian I'm terribly patriotic I just

don't don't I just I'm just optimistic

and I'm hoping that things will get

better Senator Ibrahim thank you so much

for your time I appreciate it

thank you very much thank you for having

me good night I mean our problems are

multifaceted we'll talk about health we

talk about uh

public debt profile of the country so

the question is we went on that breaking

hours into a picture of a school of

thought that that feels look we might be

having things very tough It's subsidy

ripples well at the economy for several

months and at least six months the pinch

is going to be biting and you don't

think so no no no in fact just today I

pushed out an article

where I said uh for now we need to uh we

need to wrestle back our president from

the fans of the liberal economics who

will want to push that you know so we

have the subsidy removal we have the uh

we have the uh what's the other big

thing that's going on now so the measure

of the the exchange rate exchange rate

issue you know so floating and both of

them would have the impact on inflation

and if you are not careful you may have

a spiral whereby all these things are

feeding themselves like a Frankenstein

monster they're feeding on themselves

and so but so we also know that the

president is left of center thinking

kind of person he's a people's person

because at the end of the day you can't

force all of these ideas on the people

and say you know what keep keep

suffering a little bit more for six

months six months is a long period of

time to suffer and so we believe that

going forward now we want to begin to

see the the incentives if you like

don't call it subsidies the government

just has to do his job

there's a growing mentality now in some

quarters whereby investment in health

investment in education have been termed

as subsidies they're not subsidies

they're not something they are

government responsibility to invest in

health to invest in education and all of

these areas that because the investment

in human capital remember we've got a

big problem the jackpot syndrome the

doctors everybody is running out of this

country these European Canada and all of

those guys they're taking our best

brains anybody they see they snatch you

know they give you whatever you are

going to probably start at the base

there you're never going to make make

you the dgs of their cooperation hardly

you know but they take you all the same

so we need to start investing in our

people so our work is cut out for us in

Nigeria the government works is called

out for it we don't even have six months

of suffering because

the government has every opportunities

as a yesterday uh the dollar to the

naira closes

well you know close at 763 but there

were some trades that went in at 8 15.

yeah that you see now

on it of

so-called single single rate which is

never going to happen

there's ever going to be never be able

to achieve it there's never going to be

a single rate forget it

there's no cigarettes anywhere if you

went if you went to United States in one

single Bank you get different rates in

One Bank officially

your rates you get you depend on how

well you can bargain if you if you

travel to the UK go to travel X okay

they can display rate if you are smart

you will negotiate that rate you will

get a better rate than what's displayed

there's nothing like a single rate

anyway you know but however you know

we've not been sent on this wild goose

chase to be pursuing which one is not

fixed which one is not a new window

which one is a CBN rates which is a

weighted average of how many rates are

come on so yesterday what happened was

815 was the highest trade yeah you know

some amounts were sold at that however

there was also a low rate of 476.

somebody bought some money and sold some

money at 476. that same yesterday but

the rate closed at 763. now so but I

wish that in time we would get out of

this you know yo-yo this rigmar road of

juggling rates and all of that give us a

break you know let's do exactly so but

the question is that for those who say

this policy that are coming at the same

time I am exactly there is no way that

the Chernobyl presidency will not be

forced in the immediate to look for

money because we have to look for money

to fund the economy that means it

necessarily probably because if he said

I said you may not get the money

immediately the process of selling the

asset does not know some of the even

even our crude oil process which you

believe should for example we've

regulated the sector now there's nothing

like subsidy again we're expecting a six

to seven trillion inflow but that will

come in monthly so the question is

coming daily

the first quarter of next year they will

probably need some money because next

year will open with a bit of difficulty

if they don't get um

is that not going to be turning to

borrowing again

I think I think what we need to have

first of all is a positive spirit about

all of this thing and that positivism

needs to be sold to Nigerians the idea

that oh we're going to be suffering look

I think everything starts prosperity and

what have you start from the mind so

basically speaking there's nothing wrong

in that borrowing and I've also advised

before and I write a lot I write a lot

you know I don't you know anyhow but

that you know we in terms of our

borrowing we should also look local

borrowing naira borrowing in fact today

I was reading about Ricardo Houseman in

Harvard did recommend for he said like

if you always borrow a foreign currency

there'll be a mismatch in your balance

sheet that will throw you off course

let's think about grounding our

borrowing locally Nigerians are taking

their money abroad and then we're going

to the same abroad to go and borrow

money at floating rates but the question

is let's do more of local barriers

willing to go and those who will say for

those money that we are paying back

by as at yesterday Nigeria will pay

several percentages higher because of

the exchange that has gone up exactly

that's for the foreign

in 2017-18 against this foreign

borrowing which is now a problem to us

for every money we borrowed at 199 naira

today if you have to pay back we have to

pay at seven whatever it is the closing

today because it's 280. you know what

I'm saying so every country when I

studied the the history of debts

national debt every country that is wise

started from borrowing local they

deepened their local and they got the

commitment of their people they were war

bonds that were there were diaspora born

there were all sorts of bonds that they

missed locally before going abroad so

it's not just about but I think boring

is not about running abroad to go and

collect all sorts of crazy loans and if

we want to go abroad let me go to the

multinationals if you know that they can

multilaterals or you yeah I prefer some

Chinese loan as well I think we've seen

some of the infrastructure the bricks

the bricks

I really open and honestly thank you so

much

this country is full of opportunity our

balance sheet can be leveraged if we

know if we have projects to do yeah and

to help our people to develop our human

capital the future is bright for Nigeria

uh public policy expert PhD in public

policy thanks so much indeed for your

time tonight I appreciate it thank you

very much for tonight everyone many

thanks for watching I'll see you

tomorrow it's going to be Friday and

it's going to be a packed show tomorrow

I'll see you at seven bye-bye everyone

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