Sango-Ota (Ogun), Feb. 12, 2024: A financial expert, Dr Samuel Nzekwe, has advised the Federal Government to fully diversify the economy and provide enabling environment for the productive sector to thrive to stem the inflation trend.
Nzekwe, who is also the former President, Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), gave the advice on Sunday in Ota, Ogun.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said that the inflation rate increased from 28.20 per cent to 28.92 per cent in January 2024.
Nzekwe said that diversifying the economy totally from over-reliance on oil and creating enabling environment for productive sector to thrive would not only stem the inflationary trend but would also reduce pressure on our currency.
This, he said, would shift the country from being a mono-product nation to multiple streams of products where the nation would reduce heavy dependence on imported goods.
“The Federal Government urgently needs to put more formidable measures in place to address the security challenges like kidnapping, banditry activities in parts of the country.
“There are some northern states where farmers pay taxes to bandits before they are allowed to go to their farms.
“This has also adversely affected food production,” he said
The financial expert opined that with adequate security, there would be increased food production and some goods could be exported to generate foreign earnings, which in return, would drastically reduce the country’s inflation rate.
Nzekwe suggested that with stable power supply and good road networks, not only would local production be boosted but foreign investors would also be attracted into the country.
He added that the country needed to develop other sectors where it had comparative advantage that could help to bring down the rising inflation trend and stabilise the Naira.
