The President, Nigerian Institute of Management (Chartered), Emeritus Prof. Munzali Jibril, has advised the Federal Government to reflate the economy and create employment opportunities to reverse the current economic recession.
He said the economic sector has remained the weak link of the present administration and urged the government to increase its spending to stimulate the economy.
Reacting to the news that Nigerian economy had gone into recession, the worst in 29 years, Munzali, who was part of the Vision 2020 team, said it was agreed at that time that unless the GDP could grow by 11 to 14 per cent, Nigeria might not attain the milestone of the Vision 2020.
According to him, the current statistics on the GDP released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) raises fears, especially in the light of its negative growth indices.
He advised the government to increase its spending on capital projects in order to stimulate the ailing economy. According to him, money already mapped out for capital projects in this current budget has not been utilized by the present administration, thereby suffocating the economy.
He said the current recession was caused by the cumulative effect of corruption ion the system, falling price of oil, attack on oil facilities and the foreign exchange crisis and subsequent loss of the value of the naira.
Munzali said this year’s annual National Management Council organised by the NIM, which would be declared open by President Buhari, would discuss the theme, Building a new Nigeria: Strategic Options and Policy Imperatives, to underscore the need for a new nation.
On the recent call for restructuring the country, he said those clamouring for a new political structure should itemise their agitations and put them to a general referendum.
He kicked against restructuring that would take the country back to the regional system of government and reverse the political gains of the past 40 years. Rather, he advocated for the devolution of power to states.
Munzali said states have become so dependent on the Federal Government that they cannot even pay salaries to their workers without the monthly allocation from the federation account.
“I think we need to divest the Federal Government of many of its power. The FG dabbles into too many things. Why shouldn’t we have a state police? Crime is local. If we have state police just as we used to have the native police in the north, they live among the people and they knew who was a thief or not,” he said.
He expressed support for resource control by communities, as he stressed the need to cut down the revenue that goes to the federal government.
Munzali also advised President Buhari to engage more economic managers, including seasoned economists, to chart viable economic pathways for the nation.
“I think the management of the economy needs better handling. The weakest link in this administration is the handling of the economy. That is the honest truth.”
“The security aspect has been very well handled. The fight against corruption has been handled very well. We must go beyond fighting it to go to the fundamental conditions that allow corruption to flourish,” he advised.
