The emergency rule clamped on three Boko Haram-infested states in Nigeria’s North-East a week ago by President Goodluck Jonathan won’t hurt the country’s economy, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has assured.

Okonjo-Iweala gave the assurance yesterday during a conference call in her office involving 112 analysts and investment experts from across the world. The forum was organised by Standard Chartered Bank.

Exuding confidence, Okonjo-Iweala announced that the fundamentals of the Nigerian economy remain strong in spite of the security challenges facing the country.

According to her, economic growth was 6.5% in the first quarter of 2013, inflation is down to single digit, fiscal deficit is only 1.8 of GDP, foreign reserves stand at $48 billion and the government is working very hard on many projects that would impact positively on the populace.

Responding to questions from renowned analyst Razia Khan on the implications of the state of emergency in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states, the minister explained that the Jonathan administration is taking decisive action to secure communities in the North-East affected by the activities of Boko Haram.

She explained that the intention of the government is to restore security and order to enable economic activities and normal life resume. The state of emergency, she further explained, gives security agents the latitude to flush out insurgents from their bases.

Okonjo-Iweala noted that the Presidency is adopting a multi-dimensional approach which includes political dialogue, counter-terrorism tools and economic inclusion to solve the problem. At the same time, government is hoping that the return of peace will create a strong foundation to spur economic growth, particularly through agriculture, the mainstay of the region, she said.

The immediate past World Bank Managing Director pointed out that while security forces do their job, the committee set up by President Jonathan on amnesty is expected to continue its work. The President, she said, is particularly pained that the crisis has affected education as children and teachers are afraid to go to school, which is unacceptable.

On efforts to diversify the economy, Okonjo-Iweala stated that the administration’s Reform Agenda is yielding fruits. She pointed out that the agricultural sector is being revolutionised to run on a profitable basis with access to fertiliser and improved seeds through more efficient, private sector methods.

She stated that farmers are also being linked to markets to support them to achieve more productivity and better profit margins. As a result, farmers in the North were able to produce 1.3 metric tonnes of rice in the dry season this year. The target is to produce 20 million metric tonnes of food by 2015, the minister disclosed.

She said that there are also plans in the mining sector to develop other minerals such as coal, gold, bitumen and so on.

On housing, Okonjo-Iweala said that the government is working hard at land titles, foreclosures and other issues in that sector. Work is going on to establish a new mortgage refinance agency which will resume operation soon, she also said.

Asked about her priority for the financial sector, the minister stated that government is concerned about financial inclusion whereby Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can have access to funds. Measures, she said, are also in place to encourage more listing in the capital market. In addition, a forum is already in place to work with the creative industry including Nollywood on problematic areas such as distribution and intellectual property. When finished, the industry is expected to double the number of jobs it currently generates, the minister said.

Responding to a question on whether the country is expecting a supplementary budget to tackle security challenges, Okonjo-Iweala answered in the negative. She noted that a Contingency Vote was already built into the budget to take care of emergencies such as security and the flooding that affected many parts of the country last year.

The minister explained that the Excess Crude Account (ECA) has served Nigeria well in managing the price and quantity shocks that have been experienced this year just as it did during the global economic recession of 2008.

She disclosed that in the first week of June, the government would launch an effort to improve non-oil sector tax collection. She however said the tax rate would remain unchanged but that there would be greater focus on collecting from corporate organisations that are currently not paying taxes.

•Photo shows Okonjo-Iweala.

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