The Nigerian Economic Society (NES) has said the Nigerian economy should not be solely left to free market forces but a developmental state is needed to transform the economy.
This was contained in a communiqué by the NES at the end of its 64th annual conference held in Abuja between October 10 and 12, where the Head, Department of Economics of the University of Ibadan, Professor Adeola Adenikinju, was elected as president.
At the conference with the theme, ‘Building Resilience for Transformational Recovery,’ the NES noted that the country needs to establish clear accountability for monitoring, managing and reporting contingent liabilities to guide against fiscal risks and improve resilience.
“The Nigerian economy should not be solely left to free market forces; instead, a developmental state is needed to transform the economy. To guide against fiscal risks and improve resilience, Nigeria should establish clear accountability for monitoring, managing and reporting contingent liabilities. This involves promoting a monitoring mechanism for regular policy review and assessment,” the communiqué noted.
The NES also called for accelerated efforts to diversify the economy from being oil-dependent and develop non-oil sectors like agriculture, technology and mining where the country has a competitive advantage.
The communiqué read, “Nigeria has a competitive advantage in harnessing agricultural produce. The development of their value chain interlinked with agro-allied industries is crucial. This would boost productivity and stabilise food prices. Also, tackling the insecurity issues prevalent in the major food-producing zones is imperative.
“Key policy recommendations in restoring macroeconomic stability entail restoring oil production to pre-2020 levels and building on recent progress that has broadened the non-oil tax base. A sequenced and coordinated mix of trade, monetary and fiscal policies to restore conditions for private investment and growth and to protect Nigerians’ welfare are also pertinent.”
In his speech during the conference on ‘Resilient Economics, Stable Politics: A Blueprint for Nigeria’s Recovery,’ Vice-President Kashim Shettima underscored the role of economists in helping overcome economic difficulties occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shettima said both politics and economics have points of convergence as they contend with the fundamental concepts of scarcity, allocation and intrinsic values.
He urged policymakers at national, state and local government levels, businesses and investors to stay focused and contribute to the quest for the sustainable transformation of the Nigerian economy as stakeholders in realising the prosperity of Nigeria.
The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu, in his keynote address on ‘Building Resilience for Transformational Recovery in Nigeria,’ stressed the need to build resilience in the light of the numerous successions of challenges the Nigerian economy has witnessed, including rising debt, soaring inflation rates, among others.
Participants at the conference also observed that Nigeria has a huge infrastructure deficit, lagging behind many global and regional peers. They affirmed that Nigeria requires adequate finance in the form of domestic and foreign capital to achieve its infrastructural development.
In doing this, the country can tap into the sustainable finance market to fund some of these infrastructure needs towards building a resilient economy.
They also agreed that while there are vulnerabilities in areas like the growth rate, unemployment, inflation and exchange rates, a managed floating of the exchange rate should be deployed to curtail further deepening of the vulnerability.
At the end of the conference, 82 papers were presented, comprising the plenary, policy round table and concurrent sessions to address the critical issues around building resilience for transformational recovery. The plenary and policy roundtable sessions had six papers while 76 papers were presented in 16 concurrent sessions at the conference.
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