Prof. Joseph Obansa, a lecturer at the Economics Department of University of Abuja, has urged the Federal Government to urgently address security challenges to guarantee economic growth in the country.
Obansa said in an interview in Abuja on Thursday that an economy could only thrive and record steady growth in a relatively peaceful situation.
The economist said there was the need to resolve farmers/herdsmen clashes before they could have setbacks on the agriculture sector.
He said that the sector was important for improved real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and diversification of the economy.
Obansa said that farmers/herdsmen clashes were capable of derailing the successes recorded in the agriculture sector and the economy in general.
He urged government to be more proactive in tackling farmers/herders clashes to ensure peace among the major stakeholders in agriculture sector.
According to him, no investors will come to a country to invest in an environment with security challenges.
He identified agriculture and manufacturing sectors as key or major components of the GDP in any country and such sectors could only thrive in a secured environment.
Obansa said that if the issues of kidnapping and farmers/herders clashes, among others were tackled, the economy would be viable.
A document released by CBN in July indicated that the output growth in 2019 was expected to remain weak, peaking at 2.27 per cent, while inflation was projected at 11.37 per cent by the end of 2019.
The underlying arguments in favour of this forecast include: favourable oil prices, stable exchange rate,moderate inflationary pressures, enhanced flow of credit to the private sector and sustained CBN interventions in the real sector.
Others are effective implementation of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) building fiscal buffers and improved security in the food producing areas of the country.
Meanwhile, the Monetary Policy Committee of CBN after July 23 meeting also advised the Federal Government to urgently address security challenges in some parts of the country.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, while briefing newsmen on the outcome of the meeting, said that there would be increase in agricultural produce to sustain the downward trend in inflation if the security problems were addressed.
