Former Vice-President of the World Bank(Africa Region), Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili has proferred possible solutions as to how the Federal Government can pull the country of recession. In a series of tweets yesterday, Ezekwesili said, “A country that earned over $600 Billion Dollars within this decade during a Six Year oil boom period now cheerfully goes a-borrowing. Wow. Other times this country went a-borrowing, what followed was a-sorrowing. By all means, borrow to stimulate and RECOVER Growth BUT BE WISE! “Baggage” from the PAST can’t be waved off nor can INDEFENSIBLE DELAY by the CURRENT. In Economic Management “Delaying RIGHT ACTION, COSTS.This FG was handed a LEMON package by the former but it worsened that heritage by a mix of DELAYS, UNCERTAINTY & WRONG POLICIES. I am not one of those that think this FG does not have “Bright Lights” on its Team & I’ve said so before. It does. But THEY MUST DO BETTER!
“There is a certain threshold of Economic Policy Coherence, Coordination & Urgency that has not come through yet to Public. #WhatsTheVision? WE LOST our HARD-WORKED -FOR Macroeconomic Stability of nearly 2 decades& now must WORK to RESTORE it for GROWTH to RESUME. TOO PAINFUL! Without RESTORING Macroeconomic Stability, GROWTH cannot RESUME. Without Growth RESUMING, more people will FALL INTO POVERTY. #ActUrgently. Economy can’t get back to the High & Sustainable Growth rates necessary for wealth creation &poverty reduction w/o MACROECONOMIC STABILITY. Macroeconomic Stability is of course not a sufficient condition to revive, heighten&sustain Growth. Key STRUCTURAL reforms must complement.
“Managers of the Economy must RESIST our “wonderful” politicians now chorusing Quick Fixes like “Asset Sale”. THERE ARE NO EASY OPTIONS HERE. It seems that the default instinct of our political class is “Sell and Spend”. Sell oil. Spend. Oil fails? Sell assets. Spend. WON’T WORK!Any “Asset Sale” @ ALL should be within context of an empirically guided, deliberated & DEEP STRUCTURAL REFORM of the Sector of said Asset. 3 KEY Structural Reforms for FG to whip up with UTMOST URGENCY? 1. Petroleum Sector Deregulation& Liberalization. 2.Civil Service 3.Agric Another set of KEY structural reforms? 1. IT 2. Infrastructure/Logistics 3. Human Capital Dev/Competitiveness Skills. 4. Regulatory Reforms.”
