How Nigeria’s economy can be grown, by expert

Development and Economic expert, Dr. Chiwuike Uba, said, yesterday, that an evaluation of Nigeria’s economic performance in 2022 shows that policies of federal and state governments were poor, abysmal and retrogressive, stressing that current economic difficulty may stretch beyond 2023.

Uba lamented that the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and State Inland Revenue Service (SIRS) were yet to fully embrace digitisation as business owners and organisations are expected to visit, physically, offices of revenue agencies with documents, instead of making electronic transmissions.

The Founder of Amaka Chiwuike-Uba Foundation (ACUF), however, advised Federal Government to avoid current shaky economy in 2023 by increasing investment in social sectors, as well as the infrastructure needed to promote and protect investments if the economy is to be repositioned in 2023.

Speaking with The Guardian, in Enugu, Uba said: “Progressively, the year 2022 will soon end after the Christmas holiday celebration. As expected, many people in the Christmas frenzy are shopping and spending their limited resources without taking into account the core expenses of 2023.

“The attitude of Nigerians towards their future reflects the attitude of governments towards the national economy and welfare of citizens.

“It is important to congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari on some achievements in 2022. Although, based on evidence and other economic indicators, Nigeria’s economy is struggling and heading towards the rocks. The completion of the second Niger Bridge, the Abuja-Kano and Lagos-Ibadan expressways are highly commendable.”
“The recovery of more than $322 million and determination of enforcement of the arbitrary award of $10 billion to P&ID strengthened government’s position in the fight against corruption.

In addition, it is worth mentioning, among other accomplishments, the settlement of billions of dollars’ worth of adverse claims on the Ajaokuta steel plant.
“For most part, Nigeria’s economy did not do well in 2022. It is, therefore, urgent to put in place a policy and interventions to reverse the economic collapse, and avoid continuation of this ugly past in 2023. In particular, between Q1 2022 and Q3 2022, agricultural and services growth rates declined by 58 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively.
“Overall, the non-oil growth rate decreased by 30 per cent and the oil growth rate by 13 per cent.
“The real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate at basic prices decreased by 28 per cent from 3.11 per cent in Q1 to 2.25 per cent in Q3. In the same vein, real GDP growth at market prices fell by 34 per cent from 3.60 per cent in Q1 to 2.28 per cent in Q3.
“Export declined by 16.4 per cent from N7.1trn in Q1 to N5.9trn in Q3, non-oil export declined by 38.8 per cent from N715bn in Q1 to N437bn in Q3 and crude oil export by 17.1 per cent compared to 13.8 per cent decline in non-crude oil export during the year.
“How can the economy be okay with over 133 million Nigerians living in abject poverty, and a misery index of 62.79 points in July 2022? Insecurity and oil theft have to be dealt with without further delay if Nigeria’s economy in 2023 will fare better.”