Renowned Economist, Mr. Bismarck Rewane has called on the federal government to come out clean with people on the situation of the economy and what is being done to tackle the current challenges.
He said Nigeria needs new money to survive the current economic downturn.
Daily Trust reports that Nigerians are facing hard times over high cost of living and inflation. Already protests are being held in some states over the high cost of living.
Rewane, who is the CEO of Financial Derivatives Company, said the government must take urgent action to reverse the trend because “doing nothing is now a recipe for chaos.”
“First of all you have to understand, you have to implement efficiently because the consequence of misunderstanding is disorderly change and disorderly change is not what we want. It is a recipe for chaos,” he said while speaking on Channels TV Politics today.
The truth is that you have to be honest with yourself and you have to understand that there is no quick fix. Come clean to the Nigerian people, tell them this is the extent of the problem. We did in the past during the civil war. Chief Awolowo came back and said this is what we have to do.
“So come clean, block the leakages, look for competence. Competence is more important at this time than loyalty. So look for competence and ensure that you execute efficiently.
He said the government should shun any solution that involves printing more money.
According to him, printing of more money “is the panacea for inflation and inflation is the beginning and the end of the currency and the end of the currency is the beginning of political crisis.”
He said, “First of all understanding, coming clean with people. You see the commodity in the shortest supply in Nigeria today is the truth. There is no truth, public, private and the society, dishonesty has become the norm.
“Come out and say the truth, this is what we have to do and then everybody would understand and deal with the problem.
Confidence is a function of integrity and truth.
On the solution to the crisis, he said, “First of all you have to increase productivity but that is also not a quick fix. There is a discussion about minimum wage, we need to make this realistic. You have to do something about leakages in the system and you have to improve the confidence level for investors.
“Without new money, I am talking about new money in big quantum. Without new money of the magnitude that can save this economy, you are going to face some difficulties because once economic decay sets in, all you see is you would be going down the drain.
“Fiscal policy that would incentivize productivity, concessioning the roads, concessioning the airports and taking government out of those entities where they have no competence, either they don’t have the competence or they don’t have the integrity to run those businesses, let them get out of there and use the increased revenue from subsidy reductions and exchange rate realignment, let them use that to do the new things they have to do.”
