ENCOURAGE PRODUCTION DRIVEN ECONOMY — OBI ADVISES GOVT

REPORTER: CHUKWUBUIKE MADU

A former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi has called on Federal and State Governments to make more concerted efforts towards industrialising and transforming the economy to production based.

This, he said, could be done through implementation of policies that would create favourable environment to support huge private sector participation in business.

Mr. Obi, who is a former PDP Vice Presidential Candidate, opined that the inability of the government to support a full private sector driven economy had affected Nigeria’s economy negatively.

Mr. Obi, who stated this in his Message to mark Africa Industrialization Day, expressed regret that Nigeria, richly blessed with human and natural resources, still depended on imports, while exporting very little.

He pointed out that part of the reasons Nigeria’s economy performed poorly on many fronts was largely inadequate production of goods and services to satisfy the local demand, thus encouraging excessive importation of such goods and services.

The former Vice Presidential candidate said Nigeria’s economy, which is largely consumption-based, needed to become production-driven for a sustainable growth and development to be witnessed in the country.

Mr. Obi maintained that innovation, higher productivity, jobs creation and economic growth could be achieved with a greater private sector participation in the economy unlike the public sector, which had been associated with wastages and bureaucratic bottlenecks.

He argued that by so doing, the economy would see a reduction in Nigeria’s unemployment, which would stem hunger and poverty, noting there would be adequate supply of goods and services that would in turn improve Nigeria’s trade balance.

“I have always sued for the support of small businesses. They are the engine of economic growth. With well articulated fiscal and monetary policies, our small business sector will boom and catalyse the economy for more growth and development. We have seen it work in many countries like China, India, Indonesia, Phillipine etc. That is the same model they used to reposition their economies and pull millions of people our of poverty”, Obi stated.

Mr. Obi identified insecurity, corruption, inadequate power supply as some of the factors militating against Nigeria’s industrialization, which he insisted the government should address.

This, he said, not only explained the negative trade balance of the country, but also pointed to the apparent lack of industrialisation in the country.

“According to the recently released foreign trade report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria extended its negative trade balance in the first half of 2021, as its trade deficit surged to N5.81 trillion in the period.

“The report showed that Nigeria exported total merchandise valued at N7.99 trillion in the review period, opposed to a total import value of N13.8 trillion, indicating a negative trade balance of -N5.81 trillion between January and June 2021,” Mr. Obi said.

He argued that by so doing, the economy will see a reduction in Nigeria’s unemployment which will ultimately reduce hunger and poverty, there will be adequate supply of goods and services and Nigeria’s trade balance will improve.

“I have always sued for the support of small businesses. They are the engine of economic growth. With well articulated fiscal and monetary policies, our small business sector will boom and catalyse the economy for more growth and development. We have seen it work in many countries like China, India, Indonesia, Phillipine etc. That is the same model they used to reposition their economies and pull millions of people our of poverty”, Obi concluded.

African Industrialization Day is celebrated on November 20, every year.