Thanks minister Audu Ogbeh for yam initiative – 2 – Dele Sobowale

Thanks Minister Audu Ogbeh for the yam initiative –1

SO if you have continuing rise in debt, the interest payment will rise, and then, it will consume a large part of any revenue that you collect and you won’t   be able to use that revenue for objectives of economic growth and recovery programme, and increasing growth and employment— International Monetary Fund, IMF.

ASO Vakporoye claimed   to be speaking for the Minister who, naturally, was unavoidably absent to deliver the bad news himself. But, is it possible that Vakporoye received the wrong script from the Minister’s office? We waited for three days for a disclaimer but none came. So, it is a fact that the 2018 budget will be delivered late. After the very late passage of the 2017 budget in late May this year, and the adverse consequences still unfolding, economic policy observers would have thought that the Federal Government will not be the cause of any delay in getting another budget passed on time in 2018. We were wrong.

I ATTENDED a ceremony at Sheraton Hotel, Lagos, during which a few prominent Nigerians who had made great contributions to the construction industry were inducted into the Hall of Fame. One of them was my mentor, brother and friend Obong (Arc) Victor Attah, former Governor of Akwa Ibom State who is truly a man of many parts.