As the federal government adopts developmental plans that would enable it to attain a $1 trillion economy by 2030, operators have stressed the need for government at all levels to discontinue wasteful spending and plug financial leakage.

Besides, they advocated increased support for industrial and agricultural production to boost non-oil export revenue. The stockbrokers, while speaking on how to grow the country’s economy next year, pointed out that achieving economic growth requires appropriate policy actions that would boost the nation’s rating in the global market and attract new investments into the country.

According to them, stopping wasteful expenditures would help reduce the country’s rising debt and restore the economy to a path of sustainable growth. President Bola Tinubu has set a target of growing the economy to $1 trillion by 2026 and increasing it to $3 trillion by 2030.

Head, Equity, Planet Capital, Paul Uzum, said countries with large unproductive populations could not develop or catch up with other nations with massive FDI inflows and technical transfer.

He stated that the country’s three per cent real GDP growth would not attract any meaningful development into the country unless the government implements policies that would help improve business activities in the country, create new businesses that will drive exports, alleviate poverty and strengthen the economic fundamentals.

Recall that the annual GDP growth rate in 2022 stood at 3.1 per cent, from the 3.4 per cent reported in 2021. The performance of agriculture and Industry reduced in 2022 relative to 2021, while the performance of the services sector improved in 2022.

Also, GDP grew by 2.54 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms in the third quarter of 2023. Uzum said: “If the government fails to check corruption at the federal, state and local government level, talks of growing the economy is a waste of time. Government must minimise corruption, non-oil export revenue should be raised to match revenue from crude.

“More importantly, import substitution by manufacturing companies must be encouraged to drive revolution in the agriculture sector. Mechanised farming, seedlings, storage facilities and distribution networks must be enhanced to make the economy attractive for new international companies to come and invest.

Further, he pointed out that the problem of insecurity should also be tackled to promote the ease of doing business in Nigeria, noting that insecurity is a major disincentive to investment as no investor can stake his money in a country where his investment cannot be protected.

Corroborating, Vice President of Highcap Securities, David Adonri, said the government must stop wasteful and frivolous expenditures at this critical time and increase support for indigenous firms.

Adonri said growing the GDP and boosting the economy requires full mobilisation of the domestic factors of production. He underscored the need for the federal government to leverage the potentials in the country’s capital market and rejig the economy for growth.

He said the capital is capable of providing the medium to long-term finance required to catalyse other factors into production.“As it is, the capital m arket is ready to perform this role if only other factors are enabled with appropriate macroeconomic policies and actions.”