President Bola Tinubu has been advised to take a holistic approach at taming the soaring inflation in the country.
A press statement on Tuesday by the Lead Director of the Centre for Social Justice, Eze Onyekpere said it has become imperative that Nigeria’s economic managers adopt a holistic approach to improving the economy/decelerate inflation.
Among the advised given for a leeway out of the present economic doldrums include “Increased productivity especially in the tradable and export-oriented sectors (including oil and gas as well as removing export trade barriers in the agriculture sector in the short run) can shore up our foreign exchange earnings which will improve the value for the Naira against major international currencies thereby limiting import induced inflation.
“Improving security of lives and property through the right political will that guarantee value for money in the provision of security services in Nigeria. It should be recalled that security has been given the highest budgetary allocations at the federal level in the last ten years. This will also improve agriculture’s contribution to the GDP and food production thereby limiting food inflation which has been the major driver of inflation over the last one year. Improved security will further lead to increased oil and gas production for export and local refining.
“Limit ways and means of funding of the federal budget to the statutory limit of not more than 5 percent of previous years’ actual revenue in accordance with S.38 of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Act 2007.
“Implement a Nigeria First Local Content Policy in Federal and State Public Procurement to ensure that capital budget implementation do not put undue pressure on the Naira. Rather, capital budget implementation should create jobs, enhance local productivity and grow the economy, and
“Stop denying Nigerians access to their money, vis cash in banks as a means of mopping up what is considered excess liquidity. This is a fundamentally flawed measure for the reduction of inflation.”
Centre for Social Justice noted that rising prices is a symptom of the overall negative macroeconomic fundamentals and strong headwinds besetting the Nigerian economy, adding that beyond inflation, the Naira is losing value, poverty and unemployment is increasing; there have been massive factory closures, increasing insecurity and population growth figures that almost outpaced economic growth.
The Centre said that: “Furthermore, the short term and medium-term impact of economic reform measures (fuel subsidy removal and exchange rate unification) have not been properly articulated. The reforms were not accompanied by an evaluation/projection of their impact on the economy as well as countervailing measures necessary to limit their harsh effects on prices and other macroeconomic indicators.”
