The Nation Newspaper

Tag: GDP

  • Victims’ Support Fund; Happiness Factor; RSVP: ‘Let them eat rice’ 

    Victims’ Support Fund; Happiness Factor; RSVP: ‘Let them eat rice’ 

    At last a Victims’/ Survivors Fund is a reality more two years late and as repeatedly recommended in this column. Too late for too many. The Red Cross and Blue Crescent must be made integral parts of the boardroom of this Danjuma- headed solution. The Red Cross, Blue Crescent and Victims’ Support Fund must recruit and employ only victims and survivors to help in quick restoration of the dignity of loss of limbs and loved ones and home and land-everything.  Remember the debacle of the Police Fund? Do not use smart people removed from the war. Register the first victims by work experience and place and use them to fully register all victims by job and use them for everything from record taking, evaluation,  purchase of products, transportation, distribution, storage, fuelling. Empower them, not pity them. They all had jobs before –just give them back those jobs and respectability through the Victims Support Fund.

    The political die is cast and the numbers do not add up to any good. True federalism is still the main bone of contention in the national plate at what unwittingly could easily become the last supper of Nigeria- the last Non Sovereign National Conference. I repeat that the northern delegates should all visit the wastelands of the oil-vomiting states and the southern delegates should visit the deserts and both Hausa and Fulani and the 100 other tribes including the teeming Christians of the North. There is a lot to blame greedy individuals for diverting the huge amounts of money actually allocates to both sides of the River Niger and the even larger sums stolen outright.

    There is enough for every Nigerians need but not for anyone’s greed. The warped federal structure has truncated many opportunities, mainly due to electoral malpractices and federal feudal money and might stamping on state rights. For the correct record, Nigeria needs a Conference of Federal Fault, Failures and Fraud to document fraudulent federalism at every level historically to prevent a future of state servitude to federal fraud.

    Bhutan is a country with under one million citizens bordered by giants India and China, and the Himalayas. Bhutan has given the world a gargantuan gift by measuring governance by the Gross National Happiness Index, GNHI, replacing the cold economic GDP, Gross National Product, which worships money and banking indices over the people’s joie de vive joy of life, the ultimate goal of selfless politics. Following the recommendation of Bhutan, March 20, is the Annual UN International Day of Happiness. Many countries have ‘Happiness Indices’ in their statistics. Happiness combats bullying, suicide and violence including cults and murder in curricula in many schools and universities. As part of a serious ‘Happiness Course’ there are ‘Happiness Classes’, ‘Positive classes’, ‘warm showers’ where students face away from classmates who say nice things about them, meditation, sharing respect for environment and interdependence. Check ‘UN International Day of Happiness’, Happiness Classes on the web and introduce them in Nigeria.  Bullying is a human rights crime against children. You may just save a life and make a bullied child happy. Nowadays youth even kill their parents ‘out of annoyance’. Meanwhile politicians play murder games for money and power.

    What does this tornado of impeachments add to our happiness? None. Nigeria’s citizens can also scheme, recall and initiate clear impeachment threats to assembly members. He who impeaches can also be impeached. The voter must assert the same right! In the light of the ‘loss of Ekiti, the citizens of the surviving APC states are ‘happy’ at the ‘side effect’ -an upsurge of democratic practices, not extraordinary ‘dividends of democracy’. Traditionally, all budgets and ‘emergency contract’ revenues are legally ‘disappeared’ and ‘diverted’ to ‘pre-election political electioneering’. This plunges Nigeria into a pre-election development abyss with unpaid salaries and pensions and looting all to create a political war-chest of up to N10billion to wage war in the forthcoming state elections or an illegal retirement fund. But after the shock stomach-politics of Ekiti, the political ‘hills are alive with the sound’ of money music and ‘re-strategising’ with roads being tarred, potholes filled, and rice trailer-loads reaching political party-friend and party-foe. The result has been ‘True UN Happiness’ for the masses –food for belly and brain. Even abandoned Bodija potholes are filled, one year late. The masses are rice-happy. Any stew for RSVP- Rice and Stew Very Plenty? Most non-progressive governments, with an exception of a Peter Obi or two, used the politics of destruction ignoring development. This involves relying on ‘the politics of the stomach, rice, rice, rice everywhere’ to ignore or quench ‘the thirst for development’. In the tiny mind of this political section, the ‘masses’ do not need development and they echo the ill-fated Queen of France, Marie-Antoinette, who is probably wrongly accused of recommending to the poor ‘let them [citizens] eat cake’ fuelling the French Revolution.  Now it is ‘Let them eat rice’ while politicians and civil servants steal their inheritance, though a Chinese Emperor said to peasants who did not even have rice ‘let them eat meat, according to Wikipedia.

    So-called ‘Progressive’ governments have quickly learnt this ‘stomach politics’ of the suspected ‘fingerprint disappearing and scientifically rigged’ Ekiti election. He who has not rigged, step forward. In fact these surviving progressive states can claim both developmental and stomach politics.

    • To be continued

     

    • PS: Nigerians must protest if the federal government delays revenue allocations to the non-ruling party states.

  • Services, manufacturing main economic growth drivers

    Services, manufacturing main economic growth drivers

    • NBS puts GDP at 6.21%

    The nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) inched higher to 6.21 per cent in the first quarter of 2014, according to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics yesterday.

    That the 6.21 per cent GDP growth was higher than the 4.55 per cent recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2013, but lower than the 6.77 per cent recorded in the fourth quarter of last year.

    The NBS data indicated that Nigeria’s nominal GDP for the first quarter of this year was estimated at N20.169tn, or N15.43tn in real terms, as against the corresponding quarter of 2013, where the nominal GDP was put at N18.29trillionn and N14.53trillion in real terms respectively.

    It said while the oil sector recorded a negative real growth rate of 6.60 per cent in the first quarter of 2014, indicating a better performance compared to the negative growth of 11.40 per cent recorded in the corresponding period of 2013, the non-oil real growth was 8.21 per cent in Q1 of 2014.

    The 8.21 per cent growth recorded in the non-oil sector in the first quarter represents an increase of 0.76 percentage points from the 7.44 per cent recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2013.

    The Bureau however said that relative to the fourth quarter of 2013, the non-oil growth was marginally lower by 0.57 percentage points in the first three months of this year.

    Sector ally,  the report said the services sector accounted for the largest share of real GDP in the first quarter of 2014, amounting to N8.181trillion, or 52.99 per cent, adding that the industrial sector ranked second with a contribution of N4.22trillion,or 27.36 per cent, while agriculture constituted the smallest sector in the first quarter, representing N3.03tn or 19.65 per cent of the GDP.

    The report also stated that activities in trade, telecommunications, real estate and crop production where the major contributors to the non-oil sector. Accordingly, in real terms, the telecommunications sector contributed N1.27tn or 8.27 per cent to the total GDP in the first quarter of 2014, marginally lower than the contribution made to the total GDP in the first quarter of 2013 by 0.14 percentage points.

    For the real estate sector, the report said, “Real estate represented 6.82 per cent of the real GDP in the opening quarter of 2014, exhibiting a notable 1.55 per cent point decline from the 8.37 per cent it represented in the preceding quarter.

     

    The report said Trade was the largest contributor to the real GDP in the first quarter of 2014. It contributed N2.67trillion, or 17.35 per cent of the real GDP in the first quarter of 2014, showing a slight increase from the 17.34 per cent contribution it made to the GDP n the corresponding quarter of 2013.

    The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, reacting on the new research findings, said the analyses, done by the reputed Renaissance Capital, corroborated the fact that the manufacturing sector was being transformed under the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    ”It is a good thing that the manufacturing sector is breathing well under this administration. Figures are there as proof. All we need do now is further improve the situation through consistency in policy as we continue to work hard towards continuously improving Nigeria’s non-oil revenue,” Aganga noted.

  • NACCIMA: rebased GDP figure understated

    NACCIMA: rebased GDP figure understated

    THE nation’s rebased Gross Domestic Product (GPD) figure released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is  understated. This is because about 60 per cent of transactions in the informal sector of the economy were not captured, the National President, the Nigerian Association Of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, has said.

    At a forum organised by NACCIMA in Ogun State, Abubakar said given the enormity of economic activities in the country, Nigeria ought to have  become the 15th largest economy in the world if transactions in the informal sector were well captured and reflected.

    He regretted that, despite the reforms to improve economic conditions and business competiveness in the country, Nigeria still trailed smaller African countries, such as Ghana, Cameroun and Kenya, in global competiveness.

    Abubakar said: “The Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) Index 2012-2013 released by the World Economic Forum (WEF), indicated thatNigeria ranked 115th out of 144 countries assessed – behind Ghana, Kenya and Cameroun, which ranked higher at 103rd, 106th and 112th positions, respectively.

    “Only Benin Republic trailed Nigeria with a ranking of 119th, while South Africa ranked 52nd globally, making it the most competitive in Africa.  One of the hurdles Nigeria needs to scale to achieve better ranking is the poor perception of the country by Nigerians.”

    Abubakar, who spoke on the topic, “Improving Nigeria’s competitiveness in the global market: Panacea for growth and development of the non-oil export,” noted that achieving growth in the non- oil sector will  result in the establishment of border markets at some strategic locations, adequate funding of non-oil commodities, development of infrastructure, and provision of  logistics to support supply value added chain.

    He listed other fallouts from the growth in the non oil sector to include increase in dominance of primary commodities and high productive capacity, empowerment of  Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) through  entrepreneurship, development of agro-allied industries, and packaging and labelling standards of made-in Nigeria products. It will also enhance Nigeria’s comparative and competitive advantages.

    Abubakar noted that for Nigeria to remain competitive in the global market, it must keep investing in capacity building. “What is needed is new job creation with high-tech, high-value, innovative, non-commodity items, which can be made a reality through the joint efforts of governments and private sector operators in a manner that would stimulate non-oil sector activities, enhance prosperity of businesses/citizens and improve balance of payments position of the economy,” he pointed out.

    While commending the Federal Government on the successful handing over of the unbundled companies of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to private sector investors, he appealed to the government to accelerate the privatisation of the four government-owned refineries with a view to moving nearer the completion of all social infrastructures that the private sector is best placed to operate as witnessed in other countries.

    He also advised that appropriate policy framework be fashioned out to provide new operators of privatised entities a business-friendly environment to operate.

    Also speaking on the challenges of the nation’s non-oil export competitiveness, the Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Olusegun Awolowo, listed infrastructural deficiency, weak logistics to supply chain, poor standardisation of products, poor labelling/packaging, inability to meet export orders, as well as high cost of production as some of the challenges affecting the nation’s competitiveness in this regard.

    Others are restricted access to credit, unwholesome trade practices such as document falsification, trade mark encroachments and counterfeiting.

    Awolowo, however, said the NEPC has had to intervene to boost the competitiveness of Nigeria’s non-oil sector through several programmes. He disclosed, for instance, that the agency regularly assists companies’ participation in trade shows/fairs, business match-making, product identification, as well as organised development  programs  and capacity building for exporters. Besides, NEPC, he said, have collaborated  with relevant local and international agencies on product quality upgrade on sesame, butter processing, cashew processing and dry fish projects.

    The NEPC boss said the agency is going ahead to activate the Export Development Fund with a view to addressing the pre-shipment incentives to SMEs, facilitate increased access to export financing  and designate export terminal at the sea ports to ease congestion. He also disclosed that the agency would review  the Export Expansion Scheme (EEG), identify international benchmarks and improve on product standardization.

  • ‘Nigeria’s high GDP growth rate sustainable’

    ‘Nigeria’s high GDP growth rate sustainable’

    Despite the prevailing insecurity, Nigeria’s high economic growth will be sustained between two and three years, an economist has said.

    Head of Research at Standard Chartered Bank, Razia Khan, said despite the rebasing of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth does not appear to have slowed significantly.

    The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics data suggests that the economy grew by 5.09 per cent, 6.66 per cent and 7.41 per cent in 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively, on a rebased basis.

    Khan said the authorities expect 6.75 per cent real GDP growth in 2014, and there is a chance that growth will be even stronger than this. “Agriculture is expected to contribute 22 per cent growth to the GDP in 2013; improved power supply should boost manufacturing to seven per cent of GDP), and activity in the trade sector should remain robust. Construction will remain strong, while the share of oil refining in GDP is set to grow,” she said.

    Khan said Nigeria has passed a conservative budget for 2014, but anticipated off-budget spending ahead of the election should help to lift consumption.

    “Longer-term, with a larger GDP base, Nigeria’s GDP growth rate may slow. Initially, however, we expect that the exercise of capturing a wider range of activities in different sectors will offset any large base effects. Sample frames are still being extended ahead of a 2016 rebasing, and will be enhanced by new census data and a new ‘Harmonised Nigeria Living Standards Survey’,” she said.

    Khan however said more meaningful structural reform will be needed to sustain healthy growth rates. “The question for Nigeria post-rebasing is not so much whether it will still have high growth rates as demographics will determine this to some extent; but whether it can truly move beyond being an ‘allocation’ – or rentier – economy, to becoming more of a ‘production’ economy,” she hinted.

    She explained that while the foreign exchange rate has been relatively stable to date, helped by the early June reweighting of the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) frontier equities index (which increased Nigeria’s weight to 19 per cent), achieving continued forex stability amid easier liquidity and falling foreign exchange reserves will be a challenge.

    “We forecast inflation back in double digits by year-end, suggesting that further policy tightening may be needed,” she said.

    Khan said prior to GDP rebasing, Nigeria had weak revenue mobilisation ratios. Post-rebasing, they are weaker still, with federation oil revenue accounting for nine per cent of GDP, and non-oil revenue for four per cent of GDP, according to our calculations. This, she said, leaves Nigeria with among the weakest revenue mobilisation ratios of Sub-Saharan Africa peers.

    Having identified new economic activity, the authorities are likely to intensify efforts to raise tax revenue from these sectors. Post-rebasing, Nigeria’s debt-to-GDP falls to only 11 per cent, from an already low 19 per cent. “While some commentators have suggested that Nigeria may be able to increase its borrowing as a consequence, we think that debt service capacity will drive any new borrowing decisions. A continued effort towards boosting transparency is important for Nigeria to maintain investor confidence,” she said.

  • Telcos boosts GDP with N400b, says Airtel CEO

    Telcos boosts GDP with N400b, says Airtel CEO

    Since the telecoms sector was liberalised  over a decade ago, carriers have grown the National Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to N400 billion, the Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya, has said.

    According to him, taxes and regulatory levies are the most significant sources for direct contribution from the telcos, accounting for about 55 per cent of direct contributions.

    Ogunsanya, who spoke in an interview in the telcos Lagos office, said by estimation, operators paid N60 billion in taxes yearly with another N55billion paid in various forms of levies.

    He said: “The direct contribution of telecoms operators to the country’s GDP is estimated at around N400billion in 2012. Taxes and regulatory levies are the most important source of direct contribution from network operators in Nigeria, accounting for about 55 per cent of the direct contribution. By our estimates, network operators pay close to N160bilion in taxes annually, with another N55billion paid in various forms of regulatory levies.

    “In addition, Nigerian operators have paid close to $4billon (N640billion) in license and spectrum fees since 2001. Further, between three per cent and five per cent of Nigerian telecoms services revenues are paid out in wages and benefits for some of the highest skilled jobs in the economy. Other contributions to the economy include payments to contractors, corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes and dividends to shareholders. CSR programmes have been of particular significance, with many operators investing a material portion of their revenue on such programmes despite not breaking even on their investments.”

    Ogunsanya said operators also contribute to the economy through the wider ecosystem of the telecoms industry which includes the entire industry value chain, from contractors for base transmission station (BTS) deployments and system integrators to resellers of devices.

    He said the third channel of contribution comes through multiplier effects and productivity gains from the society at large using telecoms services.

    He said: “The telecoms sector is a major contributor to foreign direct investment in Nigeria, along with the banking and oil and gas sectors.

    “Cumulative foreign direct investment (FDI) in Nigeria over the 2001-2011 period has been around $45billion; the telecoms sector has accounted for around 35 per cent of that amount, with operators using capital to acquire licences, acquire or prop up local operations, and expanding their networks. During some individual years (such as 2009), the telecoms sector rose to provide more than half of the country’s FDI.”

     

  • GDP rebasing ‘to assist Nigeria attain Vision 20:2020 project’

    GDP rebasing ‘to assist Nigeria attain Vision 20:2020 project’

    The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rebasing exercise suggests that by mere statistical adjustments and better measurement of Nigeria’s economic activity, the country is on its way to achieving the Vision 20:2020 target, Opeyemi Agbaje, CEO, RTC Advisory Services Limited, has said.

    Agbaje, who spoke  in Lagos, said the rebasing makes Nigeria the 26th largest economy in the world and biggest economy on the continent.

    Speaking on  Nigeria’s Economy in first quarter 2014: Issues and Outlook, he said GDP rebasing does not imply an increase in national income and productivity. He said GDP is not a measurement of income, but of economic output and production within an economy.

    “GDP rebasing doesn’t alter our poor performance in terms of poverty, unemployment and inequality-GDP rebasing doesn’t change the material conditions of individuals, homes and firms within the economy,” he said.

    Agabje said what GDP rebasing does is give Nigeria a more accurate picture of the current state of our economy and presents a more credible and contemporary report of the state of sectors and overall activity within the economy.

    He said: “Nigeria’s GDP rebasing clarifies some previously unresolved incongruities in our economy, like why the large global telecommunications companies and sector analysts under-estimated the potential depth and size of the sector pre-digital mobile license auction in 2001.”

    The exercise, he said, also clarifies issues relating to why per capita GDP appeared somewhat larger than previously thought. He added that i is a commonsense measure consistent with global best practice that simply updates a country’s assumptions and templates for measuring our level of economic output.

    “Continuing to use a base year of 1990 to quantify output in Nigeria contrary to global convention of rebasing at least every five years would have been irresponsible and incompetent. On the other hand, no one earns any plaudits for merely re-basing GDP just like no one receives commendations for using a time piece that correctly tells the time. We simply now know the reality about the size of our economy, which is a good thing,” he said.

    On the benefits of the exercise, Agbaje said Nigeria would now have better economic data for policy analysis and planning. Also,  the size and global ranking of Nigeria’s GDP means it has acquired increased strategic stakes within the context of the global economy. “The case for Nigeria being a BRINCS (Brazil, Russia, India, NIGERIA, China, South Africa) economy is probably compelling in the light of us becoming a $510 billion economy.

  • Service sector contributes 52.65 per cent to GDP

    The service sector contributes the largest to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with 52.65 per cent, followed by industry 26 per cent, while agriculture contributes 22 per cent.

    According to a report by Resources and Trust Company (RTC) Advisory Service, a private economic consulting firm in Lagos, manufacturing (part of industry) is about seven per cent of GDP while oil and gas (also in industry) accounts for 14.61 per cent of economic activity. Telecoms and information services (included in services) is 8.82 per cent while motion pictures, sound recording and music production (Nollywood & Naija Music) is approaching two per cent of GDP.

    The report said the data suggests a high level of economic diversification with many more sectors coming into relevance.

    It said: ‘’The most important insight from the new GDP figures is that even though our GDP is 26th largest globally, per capita GDP places us at number 121.

    ‘’Interest rates can be expected to rise marginally as high CRR (Cash Reserve Ration) on private sector deposits kick in. From the point of view of private sector forex (foreign exchange) buyers however, this is in effect offset by continuing foreign exchange subsidies as CBN maintains naira defense. The macroeconomic costs in lost reserves, though high and in our view unsustainable may now be assumed to persist until the 2015 elections.

    ‘’Inflation and capital markets moved in opposite and positive directions in Feb/March inflation declining and stock markets experiencing a modest rebound, both positive for business though again the test is sustainbility,’’ the report added.

    The report said the severe discomfort of the Nigeria political opposition to the new GDP data means only one thing, the news cannot be bad for the incumbent’s political prospects.

    It added that the recent rebasing of the nation’s GDP does not imply an increase in national income ,productivity or alter the county’ poor performance in terms of poverty, unemployment, rather it give us a more accurate picture of the current state of our economy.

  • Nigeria’s poor

    Nigeria’s poor

    •Material suffering by many Nigerians trumps our GDP status

    In the heat of the euphoria over the rebasing of the Nigerian economy which puts the country at the top spot on the continent at South Africa’s expense, most Nigerians may have missed the import of the other sobering statistics released by the World Bank, which puts Nigeria among the top three countries harbouring the world’s poor. The figures, as released by World Bank President,  Jim Yong Kim, puts Nigeria, with seven percent of the world’s poor, in the third place, behind  India with 33 percent and China with 13 per cent.  Bangladesh, harbouring six per cent of the world’s poor, is fourth while the Democratic Republic of Congo with five per cent is fifth. In-between the five reside 760 million of the world’s poor, of which Nigeria accounts for a frightening 53.2 million – nearly a third of the country’s population.

    No doubt, the findings by the World Bank would merely confirm the reality of the wide chasm between official claims of superlative growth and the reality on the main street. After what was supposed to be a soar-away economic growth that has averaged seven percent in the course of the last decade –this latest testimonial – which suggests that nearly one out of three citizens still lives in extreme poverty goes beyond mere repudiation of government’s pretensions about achievement, what it does is to call for a completely new thinking on how to distribute the so-called gains of economic growth.

    This is where we couldn’t agree more with the World Bank when it posits that: “Countries need to complement efforts to enhance growth with policies that allocate more resources to the extreme poor. These resources can be distributed through the growth process itself, by promoting more inclusive growth, or through government programmes, such as conditional and direct cash transfers”.

    Today, what is no longer in doubt is that the poor are currently hemmed in by forces that only the government can ameliorate. Indeed, we do think that the problems are now of such magnitude that the current growth path, even with the best of results, would not be able to make appreciable dent either in the short or the long run.

    The World Bank chief actually puts the global challenge in perspective when he suggests that “To end extreme poverty, the vast numbers of the poorest – those earning less than $1.25 a day – will have to decrease by 50 million people each year until 2030. This means that one million people each week will have to lift themselves out of poverty for the next 16 years. This will be extraordinarily difficult…”

    For Nigeria’s poor, the challenge would appear even more daunting. At the heart of the challenge is how to lift the mass out of the vicious grip of poverty through the widening of economic opportunities, better access to qualitative education, quality health care, cheap and affordable housing and public transportation.

    We see the World Bank report as a call to arms. Needed at this time are practical and sustainable programmes to reduce the number of the poor. Good enough, states like Ekiti and Osun – with their provision of stipends to the elderly – have offered the nation a template of the possibilities. Other states should borrow a leaf.

    In the long run, the challenge is to get the economy revving at full throttle to create opportunities for employment and wealth creation. It is unflattering that an economy which claims to rank first on the continent and in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), has remained an investors’ nightmare – going by 2013 World Bank’s Doing Business Report ranking the economy 147 out of 189 nations; this is even when South Africa is ranked 41, Tunisia 51, Botswana 56, and Ghana 67.

  • GDP not enough to assess Nigeria’s financial health- experts

    GDP not enough to assess Nigeria’s financial health- experts

    FROM economic and financial experts have come a damn verdict on Nigeria: ‘The euphoria expressed by the Federal Government and others over rebasing of the nation’s economy which placed Nigeria as Africa’s largest economy with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $510b, ahead of South Africa, is misplaced as the nation still lags behind in other socio-economic indices.’

    From an estimated per capita GDP of $1, 437 in 2012, the figure rose to $2, 688 after the rebasing. This is however still lower to South Africa’s per capita GDP which is over $6, 000.

    In an interview with The Nation over the weekend, Dr. Austin Nweze, a political economist at the Pan Atlantic University, Lagos, said the Federal Government has a lot of work to work as far as getting the economy on track.

    According to Nweze, GDP is just one measure of an economy. He identified retail trade, balance of trade, inflation, and interest rates as other important indicators of an economy’s well-being.

    Recognising small businesses as the engine room of any economy, Nweze said the high interest rates they contend with at the banks is stifling.

    “It’s like every sector of the economy, there are just different things and there is no synchronicity,” he said.

    “If for instance, you want to industrialise, you want small businesses to grow, meanwhile, your interest rates is so high that small businesses cannot even borrow money. And banks are not ready to give (them) money.

    “You can’t say you’re using the right hand to encourage small businesses which is the bedrock of any economy and then you’re using the left hand to increasing the interest rate, thereby discouraging them.”

    On the diversification of the Nigerian economy, Nweze, offering a template, said: “Natural resources are deposited in different places across the country which if you harness it and build other ancillary services around it, the local government will begin to pick up. So, that way, you don’t need to come to Lagos to become a ‘big man’. You can stay where you are and be comfortable. So, the rural-urban migration challenge will be minimised.”

  • Women seek sustained GDP

    Some women entrepreneurs have urged the Federal Government to roll out economic policies that will sustain the rebased Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    The women spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on the economy estimated at N80.3 trillion for last year.

    The Country Director, Centre for International Private Enterprises, Mrs Omowumi Gbadamosi, urged the officials who formulate economic policies to listen to ideas and issues raised by people.

    She said: “Listening to entrepreneurs will enable the government to improve the business climate and also grow the rebased GDP.

    “Our GDP is a result of entrepreneurial activity, but it is only in a healthy market an economy can bring an increased GDP.

    “This is because, a rise in the estimated size of the economy is the only way to a good livelihood for the people.’’

    The centre’s chief said despite the gloomy economy, the GDP showed a great hope for the economy and its people.

    President, NECA’s Network of Women Entrepreneur (NNEW), Mrs Fayo Williams, called on the government to ensure that the new GDP impacted positively on the citizens.

    Mrs Williams said poor business climate, which had led to the closure of many organisations, had affected the quality of life of many people.

    “Although we have a good rebased GDP, the challenges are still there. There is the need to get land for manufacturers to do their businesses.

    “There is the need to improve our infrastructure, create more access roads for business operations and create adequate credit facility for entrepreneurs,’’ she added.