Expert laments volatile policies, urge business executives on flexibility

President of the Ikeja Business Club, Tajudeen Akande, has stressed the need for the current administration to think through policies and exercise patience after formulating them, saying this would create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.

Speaking at the New Year get-together of the organisation, tagged, ‘Adapting to a rapidly changing economic environment,’ Akande lamented the challenge of policy reversal or adjustment in a business environment.

According to him, given the role of government to create an economic environment where businesses thrive, it needs to think through policies before it is brought on board.

He said: “The business environment in Nigeria since about 2015, which means almost a decade, has been changing at a very fast pace, due to policy changes. The economy has been struggling. One policy is introduced and before business executives adjust to it, it is reversed or adjusted. So, it is an environment where things are changing at a very fast pace. Not all businesses can survive such an environment.

“When a policy is introduced, the government must be patient enough for it to mature. An emotional reaction of reversing yourself within a few months doesn’t help anybody. It is like travelling to Ibadan, you get to Ogere you turn back, then you get to Ibafo you turn again towards Ibadan. You will be going back and forth in four hours for a journey of one hour.”

“If they think through any policy before it is introduced, you would have predicted the likely reactions. And once you predict that such a policy would have contained measures to cope with the headwind and turbulence, you think of an alternative.”