Being an excerpt from the State Of The Nation Address By the President Of The Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, OON, SAN
ECONOMY.
It is said that Nigeria has the largest economy in Africa. There is an expanding market in all economic sectors, including manufacturing, financial, communications, technology and service and entertainment. Our reality today tells a different story. Our economy is dwindling, the Naira is in a free fall, foodstuff prices have skyrocketed, and our future economic outlook seems to be on a negative trend.
Inconsistent economic policies have largely weakened economic fundamentals, including sluggish economic growth.
The direct result of these is the low standard of living, the alarming rate of poverty, the high unemployment rate and the wide disparity in the socio-economic status of the Nigerian population. It would not be surprising, given this current reality, if the number of Nigerians living in extreme poverty has increased.
The insecurity has negatively impacted food sufficiency and food security as a nation. Those who rely on farming as their sole means of livelihood have been thrown into abject poverty because they no longer can go to their farms. While this administration may argue that it is only 7 months into office and is not the cause of present-day experience, the fact remains that this government is responsible for stemming this negative tide.
As a government that prides itself on the credentials of Mr President, who revolutionized and transformed the economic fortunes of Lagos State (which is not in doubt) and other egg-heads who have excelled as economic experts, it would be disappointing and embarrassingly so, if this administration, did not anticipate this situation as a fall out of the previous administrations and made provisions for how to exit this economic quagmire.
Nigerians need to know, as we all are entitled to, in concrete terms, the plans this administration has to bring about the changes that will revamp our economy. It is the engagement with a government that educates and informs Nigerians of the strategies for the recovery of our economy that will give Nigerians the hope to continue to persevere and remain resilient as we have always been.
Not doing so will cause a complete loss of confidence in the ability of this administration to truly deliver on the renewed hope agenda and would be recorded as a monumental failure on the part of the government. President Tinubu must take seriously the cries of ‘we are hungry’ by Nigerians across ethnic and religious lines.
Going forward, we recommend that the Government must, as a matter of urgency, announce deadlines for specific fundamental economic steps to be taken towards economic recovery.
This will enable all stakeholders to assess the performance of the government in regard to promises it has made and become a basis to hold the government accountable to the people.
Secondly, the Tinubu administration must demonstrate a commitment to the diversification of the economy.
There is so much talk by Ministers on what the government wants to do in the areas of agriculture and solid minerals. It is time to back up talking with concrete deliverables.
Thirdly, we need to deal with our security challenges. As earlier stated, we simply cannot dream of economic growth amid rampant insecurity. Economic activities nationwide are presently grinding to a halt because of the threat of bandits, terrorists, and criminals.
