Private sector players in Nigeria are willing to support the federal government in the policy drive to position the economy amidst the challenging and recession phase.
This collaboration was made known by both parties at the 2016 presidential policy dialogue session organised by Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), in Lagos yesterday.
The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo stated that, “These challenges are significant, but the opportunities to get it right are even more significant. For us, the focus is steadfastness and consistency to achieve economic growth. The government is committed to engaging the private sector in line with what is considered best practices.”
He said the nation’s Gross Domestic Product ( GDP) declined from 6.3 per cent in 2014 to 2.15 per cent in 2015, saying that as at first quarter in 2016, GDP stood at -0.36 per cent.
He added that FDI as at first quarter in 2015 stood at $395 million, declined to $175 million in the first quarter of 2016, maintaining that values of equities have also declined.
He pointed out that as at May 2016, stock market capitalisation stood to about $48 billion down from $84 billion recorded in 2014 while inflation is about 16.5 per cent.
He said to tackle these challenges, the federal government undertook some specific interventions reflected in the 2016 budget, noting that to safeguard jobs and prevent further increases in unemployment, the present administration priortised attention to assisting States and Local governments in paying of salaries of workers.
He said the deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector was also an important policy decision, stressing that the immediate impact led to the increased availability of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) throughout the country which he said has been achieved by the price of N145 per litre as against the N200 per litre being paid in most parts of the country prior deregulation.
He added that the deregulation has also led to the reduction of daily demand for PMS from 1600 trucks to 850 trucks per day saving about N1.4 trillion on subsidy payments thereby conserving budget resources and reducing demand for foreign exchange.
He said aside from waiting for the Dangote refinery with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, he stated that there plans to fix the existing refineries.
“Hopefully, we expect that by the end of 2017, most of the refineries will be functioning to some reasonable capacity,” he said.
Also speaking the president of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Indusrty (LCCI), Mrs. Nike Akande said, “The present administration to promote economic diversification, stabilize the foreign exchange market and ensure sustainable supply of petroleum products need the right mix of policies to achieve the desired outcomes.”
She called for regular engagements and communication on policy issues to ensure quality feedback and enrich the policy making process.
According to her, this should cover macro-economic policies as well as sectoral policies. These will include foreign exchange, trade, tax, energy, transport, industrial, agricultural, ICT policy among others.
She pointed out that investment climate issues and cost of doing business are very critical issues that need to be tackled as the ease of doing business remains a major challenge.
The president of Dangote Group Limited, Alhaji Aliko Dangote said today policy dialogue session comes at a time our nation is going through economic contractions with very palpable consequences, some of which include declining government revenue, scarcity of foreign exchange, stalled projects, dwindling capacity utilisation, raining unemployment, high inflation, low purchasing power, among other.
He urged the present government to come up with creative solution to address the current challenges saying the private sector is willing to play its part and are ready for dialogue with the government in taking the economy to its height.
