FORMER President of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr Olisa Agbakoba, has applauded the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over introduction of new foreign exchange policy, tagged, "automatic adjustment mechanism of the exchange rate," contending that the policy, if well managed, would have best possible outcome on the country’s economy.
Agbakoba said this on Wednesday in a statement made available to newsmen in Lagos, while commenting on the new policy rolled by CBN on Tuesday.
According to him, the new policy has the potential of drawing Nigeria out of depression by the first quarter of 2017, as he noted that the country had already suffered five consecutive negative growths between December 2014 and December 2015.
"We are in depression but the good news is the new foreign exchange single market and the opening up of the petroleum industry to competition. Even though the government is still not showing us a direction in relation to its economic philosophy and agenda, the petroleum and foreign exchange pronouncements are clear indications that we are now moving towards a market driven, liberalised deregulated economy," he said.
The renowned legal practitioner, however, said it was too early to say that the country was out of the woods, as there were "several important critical nuggets of economic and other policy that must be made or taken by the government of Nigeria, very quickly."
Calling for the stimulation of the economy through policies, the legal icon argued, "We need massive stimulus not simply a reflation package of N350 billion. Again, we need an effective import substitution policy.
“The reason Nigeria’s economy is depressed is simply because we import everything, export very little and produce nothing. Import substitution turns the story around. We should only import the very essentials and produce everything else in Nigeria. In this way we create millions and millions of jobs.
"But this policy can only work if the economic and investment ministers apply the correct fiscal and trade tariffs by building high walls to discourage useless import."
Speaking further, Agbakoba, while observing that Nigeria was at low grade civil war caused by structural defects in its Federal system, Agbakoba said the first that needed to be pursued was the issue of peace and stability of the country, urging President Muhammadu Buhari to address this as a matter of urgency by announcing a new balanced federation.
"The president must address this as a matter of urgency by announcing a new balanced federation. The process is very simple. All the president has to do is to present a bill to the National Assembly for the devolution of certain powers from the centre to the state and local governments," he said.
"Related to the problem of a fractured structure of Nigeria is the issue of insecurity. While government has done well on Boko Haram issue, many other issues create instability and impede economic investments. The president must deal with the Biafra agitations, which in my view are genuine grievances; the president must deal also with exclusion felt by the people of Niger Delta, who in my view have genuine reasons to feel aggrieved; the president must deal with mass poverty in the north, because it allows the festering of fundamentalism in the North. Boko Haram in the north is caused in part by underlying issues of hunger and poverty.
"The president must have a strong public infrastructure policy to deal with our broken bridges, broken roads, no power etc. Mr Babatunde Fashola has shown himself more than capable to lead an infrastructure transformation agenda that can clean out the infrastructure mess in Nigeria. The president will need to empower Mr Fashola.
"Last but not the least is the need to strongly and urgently articulate the social benefits package for those Nigerians identified to be in desperately dire straits. Even though a political and economic agenda has not been set by the government, what is important is that the government is able to implement some of the critical nuggets of policy that I have identified. And I dare say there has to be a lot more elements of policy that can stimulate the depressed Nigerian economy.
"We need massive stimulus not simply a reflation package of three hundred and fifty billion Naira. Again we need an effective import substitution policy. The reason Nigeria’s economy is depressed is simply because we import everything, export very little and produce nothing. Import substitution turns the story around. We should only import the very essentials and produce everything else in Nigeria. In this way, we create millions and millions of jobs. But this policy can only work if the economic and investment ministers apply the correct fiscal and trade tariffs by building high walls to discourage useless import.
"I hope that government policy will find the right balance between market liberalisation and social regulation that allows benefits, free education and the likes, so that millions of excluded Nigerians can be protected by strong government regulations and safety nets.
"I once said that I was cautiously negative about Nigeria but with Governor Emefele’s statement on the single currency market, I can now say I am cautiously positive," Agbakoba submitted.
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