President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday told the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ms. Christine Lagarde that Nigerians have since become wary and skeptical of dealings with the IMF in the aftermath of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP).
He, however, expressed the hope that IMF, under Lagarde, is now a changed institution which can contribute positively to the economies of Nigeria and other developing nations.
“I believe the present IMF is different. Our emphasis is on poverty alleviation and job creation. We are also looking at ways of improving education and health-care delivery. I believe we can work together constructively,” Jonathan said in a meeting with the IMF boss at the presidential villa, Abuja.
The president added that his administration remain totally committed to engineering a positive transformation of the Nigerian economy that will ensure that the country becomes a? bigger player in the global economy as envisioned in its Vision 20:2020.
He told Lagarde that the team established to oversee the implementation of his administration’s economic agenda will receive all the political support it needed to ensure that the objective of significantly improving the national economy is attained.
“We are totally committed to changing things in Nigeria. Our vision is that by the year 2020, Nigeria will have become a much bigger player in the global economy. We have established a good team and we will give them the full political backing they need to succeed,” Jonathan said.
Reviewing international developments with the IMF boss, the president said he believes that the IMF had a key role to play in resolving the ongoing crises in the global economy.
He noted that events in the developed economies were bound to affect developing countries.
Responding, Lagarde commended President Jonathan’s Agenda for National Transformation and the actions being taken by his administration to ensure its effective implementation.
She told the President that the feedback she had received from the IMF team which recently undertook a review of the Federal Government’s economic programme was “very positive.”