As the 60 percent of Nigeria’s population is said to fall within the productivity age, there is need for the newly elected government to focus on post election policies that will drive massive jobs and wealth creation in the country, experts say.
The newly elected government also needs to invest in achieving success in the education sector and concentrating on skill acquisition and capacity development among Nigerian youths to achieve the optimal level of employability in the country, they further say.
Presently, Nigeria operates only about 5 percent of her post independence manufacturing sector as many locally owed manufacturing firms have closed shop, ”Kunle Folarin, chairman of Port Consultative Council (PCC), said at the maiden quarter business roundtable organised by MMS Plus Newspapers in Lagos recently.
Folarin, who spoke on ‘Economic Outlook: Quarterly Verdict’ with the theme; “Post Election Economy: Exploring Strategies for Growth, said Nigeria can only achieve the desired industrial growth, if the government focus on reviving the comatose industrial basis.
“Before independence, Nigeria had over 40 textile factories and many boat building yards we used to have plantations in the East, palm kernel plantation in Delta region and rubber plantations in other parts of the country, but today we do not have any. There should be linkage between agriculture and those industries that we want to grow,” Folarin said.
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According to him, there should be investment in real sector, agriculture and commerce, and others to grow the economy, adding that Nigerians need incentive driven monetary policies for the agricultural sector.
He stated that investors such as farmers need about 6 percent lending rate to enable them manage risk. He also said government to engage in port reform and introduction of local participation policies to encourage more Nigerians to invest in development of sectors like maritime/shipping.
Meanwhile, Ime Udoma, chief executive officer, Quiet Dimensions Limited, advised the Federal Government to strengthen the commercial banks by allowing some public sector funds to be domiciled in such banks.
Udoma, who is an ex-banker, lamented that commercial banks have lost the capacity to disburse long-term loans, which was necessary to grow the small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and the nation’s economy in general.
“Banks cannot give loans anymore because the bulk of the money they receive is short term deposits. They cannot lend such short term deposits because depositors could demand for their money at anytime. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) creates money by printing it but commercial banks create money by giving loans. The government would have to return public sector funds to banks so that they could use it to expand the economy” he said.
He said government needs to disburse the money in the agricultural programme like Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) which has reportedly created 2.5 million jobs across the country through cooperatives.
AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE
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