Harps on subsidy removal, revenue mobilization

Reads riot act to members

By Dirisu Yakubu – Abuja

The Institute of Chartered Economists of Nigeria, ICEN, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to embark on key structural reforms to revamp the economy to tackle infrastructural challenges in the country in the New Year. This is even as the institute wants the Presidency to muster the will to do away with subsidy on petroleum to position the economy for optimal performance.

In a New Year Presidential Speech, made available to Vanguard on Wednesday, President of the Institute, Professor Ejiofor Chinedum expressed optimism that the 9th National Assembly would give legislative nod to the institute’s chartered bill for assent by President Buhari in 2020.

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According to him, “government has the opportunity to accelerate the pace of structural reforms to build an institutional and policy framework capable of managing the volatility of the oil sector and supporting the sustained growth of the non-oil economy. Bold reforms that could have significant impact on the economy’s trajectory are the removal of subsidy, elimination of forex and trade restrictions, greater transparency and predictability of monetary policy and increased domestic revenue mobilization. Such reforms would help raise living standards of low-income groups while increasing spending on much needed public services.”

Commending the President Buhari-led government’s effort in implementing people-oriented programmes, the ICEN boss noted that a whole lot still need to be done to make Nigeria a country to be reckoned with.

“President Buhari has identified fighting corruption, increased security, tackling unemployment, diversifying the economy, enhancing climate change, and boosting the living standards of Nigerians as main policy priorities his government seeks to continue to pursue in his second term up till 2023.

“Though since 2015, economic growth remains muted; growth averaged 1.9 per cent in 2018 and remained stable at 2 per cent in the first half of 2019. Domestic demand remains constrained by stagnating private consumption in the context of high inflation (11 per cent in the first half of 2019). On the production side, growth in 2019 was primarily driven by services, particularly telecoms. Agricultural growth remains below potential due to continued insurgency in the Northeast and farmer-herdsmen conflicts.

“Industrial performance is mixed. Oil Gross Domestic Product, GDP, growth is stable, while manufacturing production slowed down in 2019 due to a weak power sector performance.

“Food and drinks increased slightly in response to import restrictions. Construction continues to perform positively, supported by ongoing mega projects, high public investment in the first half of the year 2019, and import restrictions,” he added

These gains notwithstanding, Professor Chinedum said the growth recorded in key sectors “is too low to lift the bottom half of the population out of poverty. The weakness of the agriculture sector weakens prospects for the rural poor, while high food inflation adversely impacts the livelihoods of the urban poor.”

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In the year 2020-2022, ICEN, according to the President will partner with the Nigerian Economics Society “to move the profession from mere journal and research production to practical economics proffering practical solutions to our country’s economic problems,”

Among other reform initiative in 2020 is the revalidation of membership of the institute with special reference to “subscription payments, attendance to ICEN programs and sacrificial commitments to ICEN goals and objectives before end of April 2020,” to enable the institute produce a comprehensive data base for members and for planning purposes.

He further warned that members found wanting in terms of subscription payments, more than two times absenteeism from ICEN programs “will have their ICEN certificates revoked. The revoked certificate will be published in one of the national dailies by May 2020 and certificate numbers re-issued to new entrants into the Institute.”

Vanguard