…Seeks ways to re-position economy for growth
A passionate appeal has been made to the Federal Government to always go for wider stakeholder consultations in policy design and implementation to avoid policy summersault.
The National President of Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Ide J. C. Udeagbala who gave this advice while briefing journalists yesterday in Lagos on socio-economic matters of interest to NACCIMA, the private sector and the nation in general, says such rich consultation will be good for policy acceptability and economic growth.
Apparently referring to the recent jettisoning of the fuel subsidy removal by FG, Udeagbala stressed that, “There is a need for wider stakeholder consultations in policy design and implementation, a cohesive strategy to ensure that policies do not cancel each other out, enthronement of policy changes that will improve our ease of doing business, and leveraging the private sector for infrastructure development and productivity”
Reviewing the nation’s economic performances in recent times, NACCIMA boss revealed that national output slowed down slightly from 5.01 per cent growth in the second quarter of 2021 to 4.03 per cent in the third quarter going by data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
“While this is somewhat reflective of the global economic outlook which expects that economic recovery will be slow amid continued evolution of COVID-19 variants, diminished policy support, and lingering supply bottlenecks, it is the position of our Association that chances of accelerated recovery in Nigeria will be hindered by continuous institutional and infrastructural deficiencies that continue to plague the Nigerian economy”, he counseled.
NACCIMA is worried by the rising inflationary trend in the country with the president warning that if not checked, will worsen the fragile economic environment and high rising unemployment.
“Inflation first rose to double digits in February 2016 and increased persistently to 15.63% as at December, 2021. We hope that recent reports of increasing hyper-inflation will not return us to the highest ever inflation rate of 18.17% as at March 2021.
“Unemployment rate, as at the second quarter of 2020 reportedly stood at 33.3%, signifying that 22million were unemployed in a labour force estimated at 80million people. Our unemployment crisis with its security implications deserves urgent attention and a definitive resolution.
Our Association has been working with the government and other private sector operators and stakeholders to provide jobs in order to reduce unemployment. We, therefore, ask government to liberalize the business environment to enable our members do more”, he posited.
NACCIMA is worried by the nation’s rising debt profile (particularly foreign debt) saying that its repayment could be unsustainable.
“Nigeria’s total foreign debt, as at September 2021, stood at 38 billion US Dollars, an increase of around 150% from 15 billion US Dollars in September 2017. While domestic debt rose by 38% from 16 trillion Naira to 22 trillion Naira over the same period.
“While a pro-debt argument has been consistently put forward that Nigeria’s public debt is relatively sustainable at 25% of its GDP, it is now generally accepted that the current levels of debt service payments are considerably high and unsustainable given dwindling government revenues.
“NACCIMA, once again counsels all levels of government, especially the Legislative and the Executive branches to consider other sources of funding, such as a preference for an increased tax base over increased taxes, and leveraging public-private-partnerships for tax credits spread over time”, Udeagbala stated.
Also speaking, the first National Deputy President of NACCIMA Barr. Dele Kelvin Oye noted that NACCIMA is the major stakeholder who lobbied for the African Free Trade Agreement (AfCTA) to be signed by the federal government. He allayed fears by Nigerians that signing into the agreement will make the nation a dumping group.
“Already our members are well mobilized to flourish in the market. Infact, their products are competing favorably. Our biggest weight is in the Financial technology (FINTECH) as our banks are already providing financial solutions to African markets”, Oye disclosed.
On his part Engr. Jani Ibrahim, second national deputy president 0f NACCIMA says the association has been in the forefront for the success of AfCTA, adding that NACCIMA is closely in touch Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and National Action Committee on AfCTA to ensure the agreement runs smoothly.
“We have been able to achievement a payment system that does not require the use of American Dollars for payment of goods and services. AFREXIM Bank has come up with pan African payment system where players in the market do need to trade in Dollars but on their local currencies”, Ibrahim stated.
