The Independent Media and Policy Initiative (IMPI), says policies of President Bola Tinubu’s administration targeted at enabling market – driven economy will unlock fortunes for Nigeria.
IMPI Chairman, Chief Niyi Akinsiju, made the assertion in a statement on Lagos on Tuesday.
Akinsiju recalled that on June 15, 2016, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced a free float of the Naira to alleviate the chronic foreign currency shortages choking the country’s economic growth.
He noted that one week after the announcement, the Naira slumped from the pegged rate of N197/dollar to N287/dollar, and that three months down the road, the rate had fallen by an aggregate 61 per cent to the dollar.
“Expectedly, there was bedlam in the economic space and the depreciation led to Nigeria losing its title as Africa’s largest economy — a symbolic downgrade that succinctly summarised the many challenges facing the country at that time.
“For many followers of the national economy in that year and beyond, current happenings in the Nigerian economy are akin to walking through the same historical corridors.
“Indeed, Nigerians had walked this path before and had experienced the same seeming awry economic assaults on their very existence as a people.
“The immediate reflex associated with such scenario was to capitulate. And capitulate, the country did,” he said.
Akinsiju said that following the CBN’s free float policy adoption and the attendant skyrocketing inflation rates, the apex bank announced a reversal to a currency pegged regime and a managed float Naira.
He noted that the then CBN governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, became an advocate of managed float and insisted that adopting a free float exchange rate for the Naira was both elitist and wrong.
He said that seven years after embracing that option, the cost to the economy became obvious as the exchange rate to the dollar depreciated by more than a 100 per cent from N197/dollar in June 2016 to N463/dollar in June 2023.
“In truth, the Nigerian economy had been buffeted from different sides by many domestic and global assailing factors between 2016 and 2020.
“This may provide an understanding of the Federal Government and CBN’s insistence on state controlled and managed economy for the benefits of the poor and vulnerable.
“Yet, after many years of the control and managed options, we are left with an economy in stagnation; one that depends on the periodic boom in the oil and gas sector to deliver momentary economic prosperity,” he said.
Akinsiju noted that by 2023, an economic template change had become inevitable.
He stated that the President Tinubu led administration read the situation well by making overtures to the CBN to revert to the free float exchange policy.
He noted that the economy, like in 2016, had since responded to the policy with a volatility that was not only immediate but intense with macroeconomic rates flaring up disconcertingly.
He observed that President Tinubu rather than beat a retreat and embrace the populist option, had determinedly decided to walk the hard, lonely route of application of unpopular yet result oriented policies.
Akinsiju added that President Tinubu reinforced his commitment to going the whole hog with the implementation of these policies during his public declaration at Qatar to grow the economy and exterminate corruption.
“We find this declaration instructive as it affirms the President’s unwavering commitment to seeing through the reforms he has undertaken to implement.
“We also agree with the President’s call on Nigerians to persevere at this time because, according to him, nation-building requires perseverance and patriotism to succeed.
“It is to these two value orientations that we call the attention of Nigerians,” he said.
Akinsiju stated that Nigeria, by all possible evaluation metrics, was an economic giant waiting to take its position in the sun but had remained stunted over the years because of policy mis- applications.
He noted that while no rational investor could ignore Nigeria, yet, economic makeovers such as the removal of fuel subsidy and floating of the naira aimed at revitalising the economy, were yet to yield positive results.
He, however, observed the peculiar Nigerian spirit of adaptation in the face of challenges and vicissitudes at work as exchange rates became prohibitive and inflation rates continued to increase.
He noted that Nigerian startups, for example, are beginning to explore local options for some of the foreign-denominated services their operations required.
He said that services like Slack, Google Workspace, and others that were crucial for internal communications and operations of startups, had also recorded a significant rise in naira costs.
“At the end of the day, the committed, the creative and the passionate will make a way through the labyrinth of challenges to explore the opportunity so availed by the policies.
“As one of the nation’s global entrepreneurs put it, while pessimism abounds, it is crucial to keep our eyes on the bright spots in Nigeria’s economy.
“We write off and ignore the country at our own peril; it can very well become a 22nd century superpower and this should be the big picture for every forward looking Nigerian.
“Our fate should not be about existing from one day to the other; it should be about accepting the generational responsibility of standing in the gap for future generations.
“It is to this end we declare that we are unpretentious about our support and advocacy for the policies being advanced by the Tinubu’s administration targeted at enabling a market-driven economy.
“This is where we believe the fortunes of this great country can and wil be unlocked,” Akinsiju said.(NAN)
By Rukayat Moisemhe
