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Economy: Govs put us in this mess -Ex CBN boss

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Economy: Govs put us in this mess -Ex cbn boss

A former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Rev. Tunde Lemo, has said that state governors are responsible for the current sorry state of the economy.

His assertion is reflective of accusations by the All Progressives Congress, APC, administration that the current economic downturn in the country was because the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan refused to save,

According to Lemo, state governors at that time were the ones who opposed the decision of the federal government to save in the excess crude account.

Rev Lemo stated this on Wednesday at the 61st annual Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria National Conference lecture.

He said, past state governors had on several occasions arm-twisted the executive, insisting that revenue accruing from oil should be immediately shared among states, instead of saving it in the Excess Crude Account initiated by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Making suggestions on the way forward, Lemo said the nation must embrace restructuring, including fiscal consolidation; diversification of the economy; lifestyle changes and inclusive growth; investment in infrastructure and competitiveness.

He also pointed out that the road ahead was certainly rough, but noted that the problems facing the nation are surmountable.

Lemo said: “During some of the Federal Executive Council sessions, where I was present, the issue of saving funds generated from the sales of excess crude came up, but most of the governors at the time firmly opposed the idea.

“They opposed it so that more money could be available to fund many bogus budgets at state levels, often arguing that there was no need for saving for the rainy day, since, as some of them said, the day was already rainy.

“They insisted that the funds be shared among the states. Unfortunately, it greatly depleted the funds the Federal Government tried to save.”

Reviewing the current performance of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, Lemo said though the President had already spent 14 of the 48 months of his tenure of office, nobody could point at progresses that had been made without some brainstorming.

“While statistics point to improvements in the area of national security, economic problems are humongous and the presence of the political will to move the nation forward was not enough to achieve a quick fix.

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‘’Recent, macro-economic indices show that Nigeria’s economy is in dire need of attention by policy makers. Inequalities have been widening and security challenges appear hydra-headed,” he said.

The former CBN Deputy Governor has these counsels for Buhari: “We must restructure because the present structure is too expensive, as it emphasizes resource sharing as opposed to production. The tax laws should be amended so that each zone will have total control over its resources.

“The economy must be diversified with immediate effect, and in addition, we need to move faster on the increase in our local petroleum refining capacity. More refineries should be privatised without delay.

“We should also embrace Nigerian-made products and this should start with such basic things as school uniforms, textiles, shoes etc . The government should also look beyond the annual budget for funding infrastructure.

‘’We have to reverse the negative trend of spending more of our resources to nurture the bloated government structure.

“We must rebuild the public school system and re-introduce technical education. We also need to build strong institutions and enhance property rights because many of the existing institutions are weak and with overlapping functions.”

By Timothy Enietan-Matthews

 

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