Buhari: Some of my policies may be hurting businesses

President Muhammadu Buhari admitted on Wednesday that some of the measures introduced by his administration have negative effect on business.

Speaking in New Delhi, capital of India, during an interactive session with chief executives of Indian companies with interests in Nigeria, he said such decision were being taken in the interest of the economy.

He expressed belief that the situation will improve with time.

“What is required of us, to which we are strongly committed, is the implementation of tight expenditure controls, effective fiscal and monetary policies, including the husbandry of scarce resources which our introduction of the single treasury account has begun to address,” Femi Adesina, his spokesman, quoted him as saying.

“We are aware some of these measures may hurt operations of some businesses in the short term, but we believe they are right for a sustainable economy.”

Noting that India has been a dependable ally and friend of Nigeria, Buhari urged the chief executives to expand their companies’ investments in Nigeria “so that we can, together, turn our engagements into a win-win situation for our two countries”.

“We can increase and diversify the current volume of our bilateral trade beyond US$16.36 billion, and diversify to other critical sectors such as agriculture; green technologies in power generation; infrastructure; information and communications technologies; the services sector; education; industry, especially textiles and solid minerals among others,” the statement read.

Buhari also urged the Indian CEOs, to accept the changes in policy being introduced by his administration and observe all extant Nigerian laws in running their business in the country.

He warned, particularly, that his administration will not tolerate the importation of sub-standard goods, especially foods and medicines, into Nigeria.