The Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce, NACC, has said that multiple foreign exchange rates ruling in the foreign exchange market creates distortion in the economy and is counterproductive to diversification efforts at streamlining the economy. It will also, inevitably, encourage corruption.
Speaking at the NACC breakfast meeting tagged “Getting Nigeria out of Recession: How the 2017 budget Affects Business Outlook”, the president of NACC, Chief Olabintan Famutimi, said one of the key areas in which the business community has been critical of the management of the economy is the lack of sufficient involvement by the private sector in the composition of the nation’s economic management team.
He said “Suffice to say that there can be no logic in leaving out the people who carry the can and face the problems in the economy from day-to-day. The least government can do is to engage them actively in the effort to find solution to the nation’s economic quagmire. We believe these are areas which the Federal Government should seriously make amends in the interest of the economy. Thirdly is the non-resolution of the power crisis which has been in the country for many years”.
He further said there is the need to complete the Calabar- Lagos and the Kano Lagos railway lines and the East West road, adding that, the advantages in the completion of these capital projects are too many.
“They will enhance a more efficient distribution of goods and services, free the roads of trailers; employ a lot of Labour and make for efficiency. The current system of distribution in the country is dangerous, inefficient and archaic. We attest and commend the fact that government has deployed a number of policies, particularly, towards the diversification of the economy which should lead to increase in the production of agricultural and industrial sectors which will make the Nigerian economy to emerge stronger”
“These are laudable measures. The over reliance on oil by the country has been a very poor and short-sighted economic mismanagement by several administrations in the country. The current effort to get the country out of this lazy management has been long overdue. The situation in which the country was importing nearly all its food while the local farms were empty was a terrible management. Any country that cannot feed itself is in trouble” he stated.
According to him Government has to do everything to ensure self-sufficiency in food and if the power situation is not resolved, the situation will continue to make life impossible for the people and will make the dream of a productive economy a pipe dream.
“The Hon. Minister will agree with me that nearly 20 years since the restoration of democracy, it is a great pity, indeed a disaster, that the power situation is still as parlous as it is today. This situation is totally unacceptable. The nation needs a robust approach to tackle this lingering problem once and for all” he said.
He noted that the ballooning population of Nigeria is a source of poverty and social dislocation, adding that, the ever growing population is a source of pressure on the economy and is the cause of pressure on public utilities, growth of slums, poor security and a general degeneracy of lifestyle in the country.
