The Nigerian Economic Society (NES) has called attention to the urgent need for the federal government to address the country’s socio-economic problems, which include a high rate of inflation, poverty, and low personal incomes. Vanguard was given access to the press release that the group released following its 65th Annual Conference in Abuja over the weekend.
The meeting brought attention to Nigeria’s pressing socio-economic problems, including low personal earnings, broken healthcare and education systems, unemployment, growing inflation, poverty, and other pressing issues, according to the text. Macroeconomic instability, growing social inequality, food shortages, energy poverty, and insecurity are all influenced by these variables.
“The conference deliberations centred on the pressing need to address these challenges, underscoring the seriousness of the situation.” President Economic Council: NES proposed that the federal government establish a legally-backed presidential economic council headed by a distinguished economics professor.
The council would advise the president and provide policy recommendations to the government based on data and macroeconomic models that span the entire economy. The team of economists noted that resource leaks have persisted unchecked in government agencies and suggested prompt action to rectify the issue.
NES also suggested setting up a framework for the nation’s economic governance and identifying specific ministries as economic ministries that require the staffing of trained economists and related specialists.
It also suggested targeting agro-allied businesses to improve socioeconomic results and using macroeconomic models to study the effects of policies and evaluate alternative scenarios.
The group of economists bemoaned the fact that Nigeria’s socio-economic indices, which include chronic problems like poor productivity, high rates of poverty, and a slow rate of economic recovery, persist despite a variety of policy initiatives.
The effectiveness of ongoing economic reforms has been reported to be weakened by a lack of coordination and synergy between fiscal and monetary authorities. Additionally, Nigeria’s economy has remained vulnerable to foreign shocks due to the dollar’s continuous dominance, necessitating a reduction in the country’s reliance on the dollar.
NES went on to say that official development assistance (ODA) and foreign direct investment (FDI) had not been reliable sources of funding for development.
It advocated for structural change, stating that Nigeria needed a wide-ranging change to guarantee better resource utilisation, a more varied economy, and increased well-being for its people. The association advocated for nationwide initiatives to lower insecurity in order to increase food production and stabilise prices.
