The Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) has called on the government to urgently speed up its ongoing reforms to boost the economy.
The chamber, in a long list of critical issues that required government’s urgent attention, lamented that the government is not doing enough as a lot of well-run companies in Nigeria are beginning to struggle to meet their obligations.
Addressing a press conference, President and Chairman of Council, NBCC, Ray Atelly, said the chamber, which surveyed the issues most critical to its members in their bid to do business in Nigeria, lamented challenges of insecurity, inflation, Naira exchange rate, floatation of the Naira, unending tax audits and the multiplicity of taxes, among others.
Stating that the challenges were quite ominous, he said it was high time the government moved away from reforming the economy at snail speed.
According to him, it is time the nation changed its strategy, time it stopped conducting business as usual, time it stopped fighting corruption while Nigerians starve without seeing the war booty and time the country stopped handing out cash to individuals as a palliative when it can train them to become more productive.
Atelly said Nigeria needed to go back to production capacity, especially as a national policy with made-in-Nigeria goods.
He said: “It is time to wake up from the dream that Nigeria is a rich country. We are not rich when we have over 100 million citizens living below the poverty line. Poverty is everywhere and all around. It is time to live less pretentiously and more realistically.
“It is time to stop printing naira and worsening money in circulation. Let us instead start mopping up excess cash and start curbing 28.92 per cent inflation. How can the money supply grow from N53.1 trillion in January 2023 to N78.7 trillion in December of the same year without a corresponding increase in GDP?”
