Nigerians have been urged to brace up for tough times before the economy gets better.
The Group Managing Director, Afrinvest West Africa Plc, Prince Ike Chioke, who disclosed this yesterday in Lagos during a briefing on the 27th anniversary of the company, noted that to re-engineer the economy, some tough decisions, such as removal of fuel subsidy will have to be made.
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He said it was part of the findings in the 2022 Banking Sector Report which the company will release on Wednesday.
He said: “When we begin to honestly try to fix the problems of the economy, things will actually get a bit more difficult for Nigerians before it gets better. We all recognise that fuel subsidy is a very foolish gambit but any government that removes it will immediately cause price increase, and then things will scatter a little bit before it settles down.
“But I will rather take that N5 trillion they are claiming to spend on fuel subsidies and put it into education and healthcare; create more capacity for industry to start working.”
While noting that the country needs to also address oil theft among other issues, he stressed that things will get better with the right leadership.
On the anniversary, Prince Chioke said the company will use the occasion of the anniversary to introduce a new digital wealth management platform, known as Optimus.
