Tinubu addresses Nigeria’s current economic recession

Since the current government took office on May 29, 2023, Nigeria’s economic indicators have deteriorated in all aspects. Inflation is rising in the country, social facilities and infrastructure are in dire disrepair, unemployment is worsening, and criminal activity, including terrorism, remains unchecked.

The government has shown clear incompetence and inability to develop micro- and macroeconomic policies that effectively address the economic imbalances that are negatively impacting the value of the Naira.

It is not far-fetched to argue that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu seems unprepared for the task of giving the Nigerian state a national direction. The country is experiencing a resurgence of kidnapping and terrorist activities. The devaluation of the Naira by more than 1,000 Naira to the dollar represents a level of economic deterioration worse than what Nigerians had previously expected.

Due to the current Naira rate competition in the foreign exchange market, inflation levels threaten to have a devastating impact on the lives of individual Nigerians and the country as a whole. It is painful for Nigerians to witness the poor state of roads in rural and urban areas today.

Almost all major and secondary roads in the country are disrupted. Traveling our roads these days, the question is whether patriotic governance remains the political center of our country.

Recently, the issue of corruption checks has become less prominent in the news. There is a psychological impact on Nigerians who have recently heard or read news about organized actions targeting corrupt individuals or entities, even if it is just window dressing.

Beyond the fact that anti-corruption efforts are becoming less visible and difficult to communicate, there is an increasing decline in infrastructure, from access to functioning electricity to telephone networks, internet access, and more. This is in parallel with poor enforcement of policies to curb economic rape associated with poor services. Internet-based facilities, including telephones, make Nigerians look like orphans.

It is not out of place to point out that after May 29, 2023, Nigeria has fallen into clear decline and regression in all aspects. This does not justify our country’s past of poor succession and succession to successive governments, but the truth is that this government has failed. We are committed to providing solutions to our lingering problems from independence.

Undoubtedly, before the election, Nigerians had tremendous confidence in His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s ability to implement policy. That makes the disappointment even more terrifying.

Currency Crisis: There is no doubt that the government has been trying to deal with the devaluation of the Naira, but it becomes a mockery when Nigerians are told that the $10 billion loan will be used to stabilize the Naira and increase its value. . It is clear to any discerning person that this approach is tantamount to postponing an evil day with greater consequences.

Nigeria already suffers from severe indebtedness, which gets worse every time there is a currency devaluation because loans are converted into dollars. It is clear that the $10 billion being loaned to inflate the Naira is bearing interest and has repayment plans that will further depreciate the Naira in the near future.

This clearly reflects a shallow spiritual and intellectual approach to getting the country out of its current quagmire. The loss of trust in the government stems from the very shallow and empty aspects of the basic reconstruction policies and perspectives coordinated in various fields of expression.

Borrowing more money from international financial capital will lead to a worse and perhaps more sinister future for the Nigerian people and country. It is by no means a solution to the devaluation of the naira.

Road Condition: We must recognize that poor roads make it impossible to coordinate economic provision and activities between rural areas and urban infrastructure. Due to high transportation costs, the prices of our products even in international markets reduce the profits of investors.

This is especially true as it plagues the rural-based and farmer-led agricultural sector. Therefore, apart from the current impact of bad roads on the movement of people within the country, it has a cumulative impact on the profitability of trade activities arising from operational overheads.

The current state of roads reduces transport volumes and speeds, negatively impacting overall economic delivery. We note that Nigeria’s economy is dependent on the informal sector, in which agriculture plays a major role.

The country’s agricultural industry is primarily rural-driven. Therefore, in local consumption and export supply chains, road conditions are critical to service delivery and profits. It must be mentioned that the various bad spots on the roads have become an advantage for kidnappers and armed robbers, increasing the dimension of insecurity imposed on the population.

Removal of fuel subsidy: Noting that the removal of fuel subsidy was well received by most Nigerians. However, the associated inflationary impact on goods and services created the opposite perception among Nigerians. We appreciate that the abolition of fuel subsidies has helped control the level of corruption that the subsidy framework has increased.

But if closing that window was to give Nigerians the option of suicide, perhaps other options for addressing that violation would have had a better impact. We believe that governments needed greater imagination and imagination in evolving their policies and managing them. Aspects of the current government’s policies show a lack of depth and creative imagination in policy development and implementation.

We call for concrete policy options and perspectives to address the current economic crisis plaguing our country. We assert that the only concrete solution to the weak Naira is to move the country from a consumption economy to a technology-driven production economy. The government must effectively address the issue of Nigeria’s vassal status. Accordingly, we must raise rural agriculture to the level of industrial capacity in the production of food and cash crops.

We recommend increasing private sector and government investment in the solid minerals sector. We must launch a concerted effort to achieve a transition from a state of primary harvesting of agricultural products and solid mineral products to a supply of secondary tier production.

Drawing on the above lessons, the country’s refineries need to increase productivity to meet both local consumption and exports. Only by pursuing effective policies in these areas can Nigeria achieve the necessary advantage in the balance of trade.

The strengthening of the naira in the foreign exchange market is best achieved through its trade balance advantage. To emphasize and be clear, this requires a highly improved agricultural sector that significantly reduces imports of basic foods and its consumables, including seafood.

This involves evolving advanced secondary transformations of agricultural and solid mineral crops, eliminating the need to purchase transformed and final products as imports. In fact, it would make us a net exporter of a variety of end products, from solid minerals to food and cash crops.

For starters, Nigeria needs to pursue an aggressive industrialization policy and high-tech capabilities in technology development to effectively take over the technology supply in the West African sub-region. We affirm that the trust and confidence of Nigerians in the present government can only be found in a region with such achievements.

Finally, we call on the federal government to seriously reconsider its approach to policy advancement and governance, as the current apparent calm in the social order is a graveyard silence that is fundamentally ominous. . The current exchange rate of the Naira in the foreign exchange market leaves Nigerians in an unrealistic arena of life that poses a danger to the entire society.

It is predictable that there will be a degree to which people will endure the suffering of starvation, institutional deficiencies, material deprivation, and government indifference. Being forewarned means being prepared.
Igaga (Chairman) and Okuodo (Administrative Director) are members of the Edo State NGO Council.

Source: guardian.ng