The Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) has identified about 150 opaque legislations inhibiting and weakening Nigeria’s economic growth.
The Group said its dedicated center, Earnest Shonekan Centre, was currently working on these opaque legislations with a view to coming up with corrective versions.
NESG Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Tayo Aduloju, disclosed this over the weekend at a quarterly engagement with the media. Reviewing economic performance in 2024, NESG suggested that the debt procured should be tied to projects abd not consumption.
While he noted inflation was decelerating, he said the pace of declaration wasn’t one to be excited about.
“This is because of the structural defects driving inflation – fuel subsidy removal, foreign exchange are still high,” he said. He said for economic growth to be achieved, growth would have to be redirected.
“And there are a couple of other ones that need to be accelerated for us to drive growth. So I think there’s a lot on that. “Ultimately, we must redirect economic policy for growth. The balance sheet must reflect that growth. The investment priorities, the debt must reflect that growth.
“Spending plans must reflect that we are prioritised for growth. But we cannot pursue growth without carrying our people along. Social investments must increase.
“But without transmission efficiency and transparency, Nigerians will not accept that we are doing social investments. Like I said when I began, the social investments have struggled to gain citizen trust.
Because a lot of them, the citizens, can’t see broad accountabilities for them. “On the look out, if you look at what’s happening in the inflation in terms of the momentum, the momentum has started slowing down”, he said.
Speaking on the country’s debt profile, he said attention shouldn’t be on the debt profile but rather, the purposes the debts are put on to. “What do you do about the debt profile? The philosophy of sovereign debt has to do more with your strategy for growth.
And I think the frustration should not be about the debt profile. The frustration is debt for what. “If all your debt is consumption debt, it’s not driving the factors of production, which triggers higher levels of productivity, which allows you to grow and, of course, allows you to pay for the debt when there’s a problem.
“So I think our conversations should shift beyond debt to GDP, debt to revenue servicing. Before, debt to revenue servicing was a big problem.”
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