Follow Us on Google
By Henry Uche
Worried by Nigeria’s unprecedented debt burden and other myriads of problems bedeviling the country, the Institute of Chartered Secretaries & Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN) and other stakeholders are set to discuss Nigeria’s challenges with the aim of preferring solutions at its 2022 annual conference.
At a pre- conference press briefing held in Lagos recently, the vice president of ICSAN, Mrs. Funmilayo Ekundayo, revealed that industrialists, administrators, management experts and other economic eggheads would grace the occasion to examine issues affecting Nigeria negatively.
With the theme: “National Debt Burden: Causes, Effects and Realistic Economic Solutions”, ICSAN’s VP maintained that the act of borrowing has never been a crime anywhere in the world, but the problem has been the borrower’s inability to manage such loans profitably and refund same as and when due.
According to her, Nigeria’s debt which is standing at over N41trillion has not really reflected in the life and wellbeing of Nigerians, hence the need to introspect and take more informed decisions regarding public financial resource management, instead of heaping undue debts burden for the next generation.
“Borrowing is not bad at all, it’s part of fiscal policy decisions of the government across board to meet some salient needs either for the immediate or in the future. The problem is poor debt management as it’s the case of Nigeria.
“If we get the right mix in place as we borrow, we get the right results because prudent management of debt boost economic growth and development, while misuse of same can be very precarious to any country,”
She affirmed that ICSAN would be consciously collaborating with specific professional bodies with the aim of offering sustainable solutions to Nigeria’s debilitating Socio-economic and political condition as critical stakeholders in the Nigeria project. “We have been working with some professional bodies in Nigeria and we shall not give up on this course. We are taking the gospel of corporate governance and corporate social responsibility to some secondary schools and others institutions as it’s our culture to do,” she added.
