Experts task FG on revenue growth

SOME economic experts in Ibadan on Tuesday urged the Federal Government to be proactive in growing its internally generated revenue to check the country from sliding back into recession.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the experts commended the efforts of the present administration in salvaging the nation’s economy from recession.

They, however, alerted of the impending danger if the country failed to look inward in terms of revenue generation.

Mrs Lolade Adesola, a financial consultant, said that though there had been a lot of speculations on the recession, the economic indices were not pointing toward it.

“If inflation has gone up then we will have been suspecting that there might be a recession.

“But the way things are, we haven’t even had the report of Gross Domestic Products (GDP) of the first quarter.

“We need two-quarters of low GDP to enter a recession.

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“Government needs to pay attention to their revenue and also make sure we don’t pile up debts, which can make us have issues with our deficit.

“The Q1 result will show whether we have reason to fear,” Adesola said.

Another expert, Samson Olalere, urged the government to engage experts to manage the economy.

“The leaders of the economy must be careful and look inwards. We need to tap into the resources we have in Nigeria and stop borrowing.

“Loans will put us in bondage and return us to recession; so we need to take caution,” Olalere said.

Mr Phil Aragbada, another financial expert, also highlighted the need to ensure productivity was In top gear in the country.

Aragbada stated that consumption of oil reduces during summer and so would the price of oil, hence the need for the nation to look inwards.

“The forces of demand and supply will be in effect during the summer season hence there will be low revenue from the nation’s oil.

“The poverty rate is high gravitationally but coupled with a drop in revenue, the poverty indices will shoot up.

“The implication is that if people are poor, consumption will reduce and so is productivity; ultimately this circle will lead to more unemployment.

” Reduction in productivity is one of the main causes of the recession. The government needs to address this and others such as insecurity which is deterring direct foreign investment, corruption and disproportionate resource allocation,” Aragbada said.