2023 Elections Broke A Lot Of Trust – Okonjo-Iweala (www.informationng.com)

Even before independence, the generation of leaders that led us to freedom identified how important trust would be to our nations success.

Honourable governors, let us be candid trust in Nigeria has always been fragile but following the election, a lot of trust has been broken.

Nigeria is a country with no social contract, meaning that Nigerian political leaders have never been able to agree with each other to stick to a common set of principles, values, and policies that consistently deliver for their citizens regardless of ethnic group or political persuasion.

The former Minister of Finance said the governorselect need to rebuild trust through their policies and programmes to regain the support of Nigerians.

She addedExcellencies, you have a lot of healing to do within your states, and between them.

When we have presented a positive story in the past, backed by a credible reform trajectory, foreign investment has followed.

When we have shown that we are cognizant that we account for around 70 of the West African subregions GDP and 23 of subSaharan Africas GDP, and we have run our country and economy responsibly to benefit not just us, but the region and subregion, we have garnered respect.

We must continue to recognize that Nigeria has an outsize role to play at home and abroad and we must manage our country better not just for ourselves but also for the rest of Africa.

But to move ahead and seize it, we will need political and business leaders at the state and national levels to form a compact in pursuit of progrowth and prodevelopment policies.

We ought to be seeking to double our growth rate and sustain that higher growth until we attain upper middleincome status.