Nothing to cheer about Nigeria’s economy – Don
on SEPTEMBER 6, 2012 · in NEWS

BY SONI DANIEL
ABUJA—There is nothing to celebrate about Nigeria being ranked the 39th among the world’s leading economies, renowned economist and Director General of the Lagos-based West African Institute of Financial and Economic Management, Prof Akpan Hogan Ekpo, has said.

Ekpo insists that the economic structure of Nigeria is faulty and does not portend a bright outlook for the nation and its people now or in the near future, if urgent steps are not taken to restructure it.

That notwithstanding, Minister of National Planning, Shamsuddeen Usman, boasted on Monday that Nigeria’s economy had made real progress and moved from its 44th position to 39th on the global ranking as a result of effective macroeconomic management by the administration.

Usman spoke at the inauguration of the Central Working Committee, CWG, on the review of the implementation of the First National Implementation Plan, NIP, for the Vision 20: 2020 in Abuja on Monday.

However, Prof Ekpo, told Vanguard in an exclusive interview yesterday that the government should be more concerned about what would grow the economy than celebrating what he called ‘a marginal gain’.

Ekpo, who is the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Uyo, pointed out that with the rate of unemployment and poverty in Nigeria, it would be difficult for any ‘economic growth’ to be appreciated by the majority of Nigerians.

[b]“I think that whether we have moved from 44th to 39th position on the scale of economic performance or not what would make the real difference lies in the ability of the economy to create jobs and curb rising unemployment.

“Now, with unemployment growing at 34 per cent and poverty hovering above 70 per cent, it is difficult to say whether we have made any gain because in the real sense of it our economic structure is faulty,” Ekpo said.

The economist warned that the country’s economy would continue to remain in limbo as long as the government continues to sell oil and use the proceeds for the importation of goods and services for consumption without producing for export.

He stated that the only way out for the country was for the administration to diversify the economy from oil to production of goods and services so as to exit from the vagaries of oil price turbulence and be able to gauge its economy based on real growth.

He said, “We are only making money now because the prices of oil had risen. If there is any problem in the international oil market, the economy would collapse and we would return to square one.

“That is why the government must do everything humanly possible to make the refineries to work so that Nigeria will depend less on oil importation and use the money to produce export because no country can make progress by simply remaining a consuming nation,” Ekpo stated.
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While not opposed to the planned introduction of the controversial N5000 note, the economic expert however faulted the timing of the scheme and its contradiction with the cashless regime also being vigorously pursued by the CBN.

According to him, all the arguments against the introduction of the new bill are not supported by any known economic perspective and the fears therefore unfounded.