What govt needs do to get Nigeria out of rising inflation, by Adegbenro

An entrepreneur and political activists, Otunba Adejare Rewane Adegbenro has proffered solution to how inflation can be tackled in Nigeria, saying with right steps taken at the right time by the government, the monster can be caged and the country would be better for it.

Speaking in Lagos weekend, the Lagos based businessman said the government should first understand that the inflation in Nigeria is a cost-pull inflation where the cost of factors of production are high because they are predominantly imported and cost of clearing at the port has also hit the roof due to lack of proper planning and over reliance on a single port by the government.

According to him, it is obvious that there is an urgent need for the other ports like Calabar, Onne and Port-Harcourt to be fully functional as this will reduce the cost of clearing and haulage and also reduce pressure on Nigerian trunk roads.

He also urged Nigeria to stop importation of items that can be produced in Nigeria while looking at producing things the nation has that are in high demand globally like Bitumen, solid minerals, Cocoa and Cashew, adding that, if government would make policies that aid all the above mentioned, inflation would be on its way out of the country.

“This will see businesses growing and expanding and other new businesses also springing up with foreign investment opportunity coming into the country.

All these will give rise to increase in demand for labour and unemployment rate will also reduce automatically,” Adegbenro assured.

Having done that, the Abeokuta, Ogun State born businessman therefore urged the government to pay more attention to appointment and allocation of responsibility to ensure that the best brains available in the country relevant to work requirement are appointed into offices irrespective of whether the person is a politician, party member or not.

The government, according to him, should also set up an appraisal system, for the public officers to ensure periodic assessment of activities to ensure excellence in the carrying out of the function of all public officers and should also not appoint anyone it cannot fire.

“The government should encourage training of its officials in all sectors as this will help in making right decision that will put the economy to having world class standard.

I also suggest that politicians and few others, who live larger than life, shouldn’t be overpaid. The concept of immunity for governors and other executives should be eradicated as this has paralysed and still paralysing our economy,” Adegbenro cautioned.

He however praised the role the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), under its Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele is playing to ensure implementation of the government’s economic policies that drive growth and sustainability, saying, any deviation from this role would have amounted to a failure on the part of the country reserve bank and the captain of the ship which is the Governor of the bank.

“With the various interventions in the forex space to defend the Naira, the CBN and the governor had done well in my opinion.

However, the CBN should have a more inclusive monetary policy implementation where all stakeholders are well consulted before implementation to avoid policy summersault as we have had in the case of sovereign guarantees giving higher yields than corporate guarantee.

“He has done a lot to bring more people from the informal into the formal sector, BVN was a great initiative, but a lot more needs to be done for increase from about 15 percent to at least 40 percent, this will go a long way in helping banks develop decent Retails banking sector that helps more people have access to loans,” Adegbenro submitted.