AACS Fortnightly
(Mondays)
11th September 2023

From the Chairman’s Desk,

Production Over Consumption – A Good Start

The simple reason why the nation’s economy is in a difficult place today is because we literally import most of what we consume and produce little. This consistent unfavorable balance of trade then ensures that we waste our scarce foreign reserve and produce too little for exports to replenish. The currency has little value if it is not backed by production within the economy. It is against the backdrop of this that the recent trip to the G20 summit in India, and indeed leaving five days before the actual summit to make pitches to the business community by the President is remarkable.

The task before the nation is to improve the ease of doing business and attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the economy. At the last count in the 7 day visit to India by the President and his team, fourteen billion dollars ($14bn) in possible business inflow into the nation had been pencilled for MOUs with the President giving his personal commitment to ensure all bottlenecks are off. At the Nigeria-India Presidential Roundtable and Conference, Indorama Petrochemical pledged an $8 billion expansion in its fertilizer production, Jindal Steel committed to $3 billion and Bharti Enterprises signed a $700m MOU amongst others.

This needs to be the beginning as we must move quickly away from a consumption to a production economy, stimulate our exports and give some strength to the suffering Naira. The situation is dire and citizens are stretched beyond their limits, but it is the result of a poor economic strategy and the nation’s indulgence. The critical reset in strategy to facilitate production, discourage wholesale importation, and start the critical foundation of economic prosperity in the land must be now. We would achieve it by accepting our reality and be decisive enough to change the trajectory of our fortunes positively.

Falil Ayo Abina & Vincent Ekenemchukwu Uwajeh 
 
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