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By Bimbola Oyesola
Members of the Organised Private Sector (OPS) and top Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) yesterday tasked Federal Government to urgently deal with the issues of oil theft and fuel subsidy removal as immediate policy response to Nigeria’s numerous economic challenges. The CEO warned that these would salvalge the economy from total collapse. They argued that if the government does not resolve these before the next administration takes over, economic crisis that would bedevilled the country would not be easily curtailed.
Speaking on Tuesday on ‘Monetary and Fiscal Policy Challenges: Survival Options for Businesses,’ during a NECA CEO Discuss, organised by the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Managing Director of BusinessDay, Dr. Ogho Okiti, said with Nigeria losing about $2 billion to oil theft monthly, there was an urgent need to close the country to deal with it fully. He said with the uncertain economic and financial environment Nigeria is faced with today, it was important and critical that businesses, individuals and the government align to deal with the current exigentia threats.
According to him, it was foolishness on the part of government not to even try and increase pump fuel price from N165 to N200 or N250 per litre, knowing fully well that just a N10 or N30 increase will give the government almost N1 trillion.
Rather, “we continue to borrow and borrow. We must close the country down to deal with it. If we don’t deal with it, I don’t know what will happen in the coming months. It is not just by consuming N8 trillion just like that. Moreso, we are not just consuming but borrowing to consume,” he said.
He noted that economies grow by incentives, and at the moment, Nigeria is not incentivised enough to produce but incentivising to consume.
For Nigeria to move forward, he said: “we must remove all those incentives that raises consumption and then we begin to actually engage in production. If we align with incentive, people will change their behaviour. Once government deals with these the economy will change.”
Okiti, while advocating for the right economic policies, said it is until when Nigeria’s growth rate peaks significantly at nine to 10 percent, that is when it could deal with income growth and poverty reduction.
He said with the current growth rate of 3.4 percent, Nigerians should not rejoice, because the figure was still from a very low base, considering the extremely macroeconomic instability the country is battling with.
“The growth rate trajectory, when you look at it from a quarter to quarter basis, they are not so great. They are actually flat,” he said.
Also, Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader, PwC, Nigeria, Taiwo Oyedele, said Nigeria’s economy is facing significant headwind and not enough tailwinds.
Giving some key challenges in the monetary and fiscal space, he said Nigeria’s problems are needed to be run by policies and not throwing monies at problems.
On how businesses could thrive despite the numerous challenges bedevilling the country, Oyedele, highlighted some sustainability options, like having the right knowledge, seek professional advice, have a long term perspective and advocacy as way forward.
The President of NECA, Taiwo Adeniyi, lamenting how some government agencies slow down private sector operations through policies, said the organised private sector will continue to deepen their engagements with government for businesses’ survival in the country.
