The Nigerian Association of Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) has called on the Federal Government (FG) to prevent Nigeria from slipping into recession by addressing the necessary economic parameters.
The call was made by NACIIMA’s National president, John Udeagbala, on Friday during the association’s third quarter of economic briefing in Lagos State.
Udeagbala said the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with the Russia-Ukraine conflict, has put immense pressure on the productive capacity of the economy.
“We, therefore, urge once again, the implementation of government policy that places priority on improving domestic production, otherwise face a likely state of economic recession by the end of 2022,” he said.
The government has been called upon to renew its focus on implementing policies to ensure Nigeria becomes a net exporter of petroleum products and eventually electricity.
He also called for urgent action in fixing domestic refineries and the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act, which is currently hobbled by the petrol subsidy regime.
“If we estimate that Nigeria has spent an average of N2 trillion a year for the past 16 years on petroleum subsidy, it is time to ask ourselves, how many refineries could we have built in that time?” he said.
“As we acknowledge the economic impact of the sudden removal of petroleum subsidy, we advocate a gradual removal with attendant policy initiatives to cushion the effect on the economy.
“We can start by taking a look at other developing countries in this space, such as Trinidad and Tobago, who never had to carry out turnaround maintenance on their only refinery or revisit crude oil to petroleum product swap arrangements.”
Udeagbala also lauded the government’s innovative policies, such as tax reliefs and other incentives for startups to harness Nigeria’s digital innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem.
He urged the government to consider the security implications of the high unemployment rate of 33 percent and do more to address the regular face-off with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
