What Nigeria must do to remain out of recession ―Pat Utomi

With statistics showing that Nigeria is now out of recession, political economist, Professor Pat Utomi has stated that the country now has the leeway to grow its economy more dynamically by especially working with the private sector to engender economic growth.

While the nation revels in being relieved of the perception of being in recession, Utomi said government should also focus on creation of jobs vis a vis the growing population and implement policies that improve the quality of life of Nigerians.

Speaking with Nigerian Tribune, on Tuesday, Utomi said what was imperative that government manages the economy with implementation of right economic and welfaristic policies.

“It is a good thing that you don’t have the perception thing of being in a recession. The most important problems are that of job creation, and how do we take advantage of the fact that there is not the burden or perception of being in a recession to then begin to look at how to grow the economy more dynamically. The government can work with the private sector to spur growth.”

“There are those who are concerned about the welfare of human beings who will focus on how does this translate into the quality of life that people live. There are people who do not like to make much than it deserves about statistical averages but ask whether this puts more food on the people and whether their life has changed for better. You can frustrate people who think that escaping a technical, statistical benchmark means everything is well.”

“Clearly, I am encouraged by the new implementation teams put together by the government. We have a group of smarter, younger, senior special assistants to the president that have been appointed to look at implementation of policies. This is more important than whether metrics have moved in one way or the other.”

On how long we would be out of recession, Utomi said, “This depends on how you manage on the economy. Business cycles exist and these things are cyclical. You grow and you reach a point of diminishing returns and come down.”

“If you bare the fact that Nigeria has not been in a technical recession for about 30 years until this one. You would feel that whereas the cycle could be a little shorter, any circumstances can keep you out of recession for a long time. I dont think there is a model of the Nigerian economy that I am familiar with that gives us a sense of when next Nigeria will slip into a recession.”