Politics
and economy watchers are getting weary of the spate of buck passing, ‘no
hurry’ body language and aura of policy inertia emanating from the
President Muhammadu Buhari(PMB) led federal government,as his tenure
nears the 100 day mark, typically a season of assessment.
PMB |
They say the indicators show an economy in dire straits and staggering without concrete policy direction.
On the upside however, there is agreement
that some mileage is being made in the war against corruption and a
significant stepping up of electricity supply from the national grid
which comes from a perceived improvement in the work ethic, on the
notion that the fear of Buhari is the beginning of wisdom.
Economy watchers however observe that
without significant improvement in oil prices, weakness of the naira,
and with Q 2 GDP growth for 2015 at 2.34% compared to a 6.54 % growth
for the same period in 2014, the federal government should go beyond,
rhetoric, wishful thinking, and buck passing and present more rapid, robust and re-assuring responses.
Ayo Teriba, a leading economist and CEO
of Economic Associates, while acknowledging that “it is true that a
myriad of problems were inherited from the previous regime, the new
regime appears to have been too preoccupied with its internal
challenges…” rendering it unable “to chart a future policy path for
others outside government to plug into”.
Teriba further laments that the President
Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) regime “appears to be struggling with the
present, finding it difficult to contemplate a future for the country”.
There is no doubt that PMB in the last
three months has filled the atmosphere of governance with the
consciousness of accountability and probity, and has made a few positive
moves like implementing the policy of a Treasury-Single Account, aimed
at blocking leakages from revenue generating agencies. Yet Teriba says
the fiscal policy direction of the current government “remains
uncertain”.
Sam Ohuabunwa, founding chairman of
Neimeth Pharmaceuticals plc and chairman African Centre for Business
Development, Strategy & Innovation(ACBDS) is worried that the
“national focus seems riveted on the anti-corruption issue and the
present lopsided appointments of PMB”. Ohuabunwa says “our eyes are off
the economy”. He is uncomfortable with the “daily remarks about how bad
the economy is or how good we wish to make it…” These continual remarks,
he says, “will not change anything”.
For Ohuabunwa, “blaming the previous
government for everything is escapist”. Suggesting a way forward,
Ohuabunwa says “what will change things is implementing a coherent and
well thought-out bundle of economic policies, not the fire-brigade
actions”.
Teriba seems to agree with Ohuabunwa on
the way forward. “It would have been better for the government to have
stated its fiscal policy direction in a forward-looking fiscal guidance
document that will leave no one in doubt about the fiscal policy
directions of the new government,” Teriba states.
The ongoing fears about the outlook of
the naira and the undue pressures on the CBN are as a result of the
absence of an “early indication of broader economic policy directions”
Teriba emphasises.
The steady weakening of the naira
according to Teriba, “could indeed have resulted from the loss of
confidence resulting from rising uncertainty about fiscal and broader
economic policy directions”.
After waiting for three months, Nigerians seem to be clamouring for more concrete achievements from the government of PMB.
Meanwhile PMB appears unruffled by
expressions of impatience and the swelling criticism of lack of
geo-political consideration in appointments made so far.
IKENNA OBI
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