 where the governor, Artiku Bagudu, has advocated heavy investment in other sectors of the nation's economy. If much talked about diversification from oil and gas must be a reality. Bagudu said this in a public hearing on the bill for an act to establish the Nigerian Economic Diversification Council, organized by the Senate Committee on National Planning and Economic Affairs, chaired by Senator Ulubumi Aditumi. The governor, who is a former senator, said Nigeria is a blessed nation in all sense of the word, other than that there is need to support different sectors of the country and different constituents to do better. He said that Nigeria is a trillion dollar investment destination that the federal government budget is less than $35 billion. We are a blessed nation in all sense of the word and we need to support different sectors of Nigeria. We need support to support different constituents of Nigeria to do better. And I gave the example that we have done well in petroleum and gas, not because it's the only sector that we have, but that's where we put in the most money. Nigeria is a trillion dollar investment destination. Nigeria, what is our federal budget? Less than $35 billion. Maybe the National Assembly is about to pass the 2022 budget. I'm sure it will be up to $40 billion. What is the budget of Brazil, a country that is similar to Nigeria in terms of population? About $700 billion. So if somebody is taking care of 220 million people with $700 billion, you are taking care of 200 and with less than 10% of that, isn't it a no-brainer that you will not be able to achieve as much? But we have to all come together. We have to borrow more money if that is what is required. Or we have to support all sectors to produce more money so that we can fund all our priorities better. The sponsor of the Bill, Senator Sabi Abdul-Lai, represented Niger North Express, his delight that the public hearing was well attended as stakeholders made very meaningful contributions that will enrich the legislation. Well, for me, first let me say I'm very happy that the public hearing did hold. And I agree with you, it was successful because a lot of stakeholders participated. And we had many of them also making very, very vital inputs. That's what public hearing is all about. So I think that is the way to go. And I'm sure going forward with all these inputs and even more that we confront those who just came to express their support but wish to make further input, I think it will definitely help to come out to the bill that we believe will be in the interest of this country. Well, for me, one of the things that we must take note of is if a bill is good, there is no precedent that will not sign it. As a government, we've been talking about diversifying the Niger economy and this bill seeks to provide a legal framework to ensure that not just this government, successive governments that will come on board will be able to continue from wherever a particular government stops. Click the notification button so you get notified about fresh news updates.