The Director-General of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, Mr Adewale Oyerinde, has stated that the country requires urgent actions to shake off the current economic crisis.
In his assessment of President Bola Tinubu’s administration performance since it was inaugurated on May 29, 2023, Oyerinde told The PUNCH in Lagos recently that the government had made some bold reforms.
The NECA boss said, “When the President came up and said he was removing the fuel subsidy, while it was painful, it was a decision that we have clamoured for 10 years.
“Over 14 years ago, successive administrations were not able to do that and that has brought us to where we are. Nigeria has four refineries moribund, and the government seems to be comfortable with the huge amount spent on subsidies that cannot be accounted for. That is criminal.
“As organised private sector, we have seen that Nigeria has the potential to be one of the biggest economies in the world and successive administrations have tried what they could to navigate us from a perpetual potential nation to a country that is moving on the path of growth and the last administration played its part and we are now in a new administration.”
According to Oyerinde, the private sector is demanding the political will of the government to take certain difficult situations and to challenge entrenched interests in the country.
He added that it must muster the courage to initiate certain reforms that would bring the country back to the reality of its potential.
He noted that the removal of fuel subsidy was one of the positive things the current administration had achieved.
“It was instructive to say that in successive administrations when they announced that they wanted to remove subsidies, the mass protests of resistance always led them to restrain.
“Removing the subsidy at the earliest part of the administration also gives the government about four years to achieve its mandate. It would have been difficult if it was the subsidy was removed in the second or third year of the administration,” he stated.
He observed that the various reforms in the fiscal and monetary space had made the naira gain some stability.
He, however, noted that pressure was also forcing it back.
Oyerinde expressed hope that the efforts of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the coordinating Minister of the Economy would also play a part in bringing the naira back to its true value.
The NECA boss explained that the Ministry of Trade and Investments was also doing quite a lot.
“We can see some traces of the outcome of many of those reforms. NECA had projected that around June and July, we will start seeing the real outcome of many of the reforms that this government is coming up with.
“We are seeing a bit of it, and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel if they consistently continue on this path and most especially continue to collaborate deeply with the organised private sector and other stakeholders. We might just come out of the woods in the shortest possible time,” he stated.
The NECA DG cautioned the government against neglecting the importance of maintaining strict fiscal discipline.
He pointed out similarities between the current administration and the previous one, particularly regarding regulatory authorities.
Oyerinde stressed that the need for the government to foster a business-friendly environment for organised businesses to thrive.
“In one year, the Federal Government has done quite a bit, and we hope that they will just continue for the next three years in this path,” he added.
SOURCE: PUNCHNG
