The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN) has urged the Federal Government to focus more on critical governance challenges facing the country and bridge the infrastructure gap to speed up development.

The institute said this was pertinent, especially with the transition to a new administration, which calls for economic policies that affect people positively.

ICSAN’s new President and Chairman of Governing Council, Funmi Ekundayo, stated this during her first media parley in Lagos.

He said policies aimed at tackling the challenges of the high inflation rate, debts, cost of governance among others should be focused on by the new administration.

With inflation as high as 22.8 per cent, she charged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to look beyond the orthodox method of price control to curb inflation.

According to her, the government should increase real investment in infrastructure, reduce leakages as well as the cost of governance to have a direct impact on the economy.

She maintained that the Federal Government, through the CBN, ought to assess policies regularly, stating that if they are not consistent with the intention, the policies should be reviewed.

On the nation’s high debt profile, she said the government should tailor the funds to critical sectors of the economy to generate revenue, stating that if debts are not channeled in the right direction, the government would not earn sufficient revenue to repay the debts.

The ICSAN chief said it was high time the government began to look beyond oil revenue and diversify across sectors.

Offering solutions, Ekundayo said the government should utilise public-private-partnership (PPP) to address the infrastructural gap.

According to her, PPP has not been used enough by successive administrations.

“There is a need for the government to embark on a massive development in the country. Due diligence must be taken to bring the private sector into governance.

“Government should look into areas of honouring contracts and reducing policy summersault so that public infrastructure development can interest the private sector.

“Government should also focus on agriculture and tourism as well as empowering the youths. Ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) must be restructured to become more effective. On reducing the cost of governance, the government must walk the talk, especially, with the new cabinet of over 40 members, who will, in turn, have many aides that might gulp the nation another billions of naira to keep them in office,” she said.

The institute’s Vice President, Uto Ukpanah, canvassed smart governance.