The Nigeria Economic Society (NES) has accused the Muhamadu Buhari-led government of lacking seasoned economists which has led the nation into an unstable state of the economy.
The claim was made on Tuesday by the President of Nigeria Economic Society (NES), Professor Sarah Anyanwu, during a courtesy visit on the senator representing Abia South and Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe.
The leader of the body of professional economists in her remark stated that the unsavoury state of the economy was due to the exclusion of NES members from National Economic Management Team.
“Members of the Nigeria Economic Society (NES) had in the past been included in the National Economic Management Team for the required professional advice and guidance on whatever economic policy to be adopted by the federal government.
“The practice assisted the past government in making sound economic policies required by circumstances or situations on the ground.
“But the exclusion of economists in the National Economic Team under the present administration has glaringly shown the adverse effects on the economy which by those who can read the indices and indicators correctly, is nose-diving.
“Our exclusion from the NEMT is seriously making the Nation’s economy to be unstable and somewhat directionless.”
Responding to Prof. Anyanwu’s remark, Senator Abaribe assured that the National Assembly would give expeditious passage to the Bill.
“We are not surprised that the economy went into recession and moving towards that direction again, since as disclosed here, required knowledge from the experts are not even sought for.”
Members of the NES visiting team include Professors Peter Shibayan of the Department of Economics, University of Abuja; Eyilola Olaniyi also from the same Department, University of Abuja, amongst others.
Inflation rate in Nigeria has spiralled up to hit 13.22% as the end of August, a record that broke a 29-month moving average.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures prices of goods and services, released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday revealed that the 13.22 percent is 0.40 percent points higher than the 12.82 percent recorded in July.
The CPI stated that inflation rate rose by 1.34% on a month-on-month basis, indicating they August inflation rate was the highest since April 2018.https://echotitbits.com/poultry-farmers-demand-total-ban-on-importation-of-poultry-products/
Year-on-year inflation rate declined from 13.34 percent in March 2018 to 12.48 percent the following month. It had remained between 11 and 13 until last month.
According to The Guardian, data contained in the CPI report showed that the food category recorded 17.3 percent to emerge as the item with the highest price increase in the year. The prices of imported foods increased by 16.6 percent in the period.
Furthermore, items such as – food, imported food, footwear/clothing, transport, health, communication, education, restaurant/hotels, food/non-alcoholic beverage, recreation/culture, furnishings/household, equipment,, maintenance, housing, water, electricity, gas, other fuel and alcoholic beverage, tobacco, kola, as captured by CPI basket within the 12-month period reviewed experienced decrease in prices (deflation).
The CPI stated further in its review that year-on-year inflation in urban areas moved from 13.40 percent in July to 13.83 percent in August while month-on-month increased from 1.27 percent to 1.40 percent.
in rural areas, year-on-year inflation rose from 12.28 percent in July to 12.65 percent in August while as per month-on-month, it rose up slightly – from 1.23 percent to 1.27 percent.
States that led the pack being above national average in food inflation as at August 2020 were Kogi, Kwara, Edo and Delta, with 22 percent, 19.1 percent, 19 percent and 17.9 respectively. In the North, Gombe, Kano and Bauchi experienced lower than the national average.
However, Nigeria’s leader, President Muhammadu Buhari in his reaction to current food price hike across the country appealed to residents for calm.
File Photo of Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari.
President Buhari, at the yearly Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) Conference in Abuja, which he declared opened, assured Nigerians that prices would trend down soon
The president, represented by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed said: “Amidst the uncertainty created by the pandemic, we’re confident that the Nigerian economy will bounce back strongly within the near term with the right policy responses to the multidimensional crises.
“Since we cannot simply wait for things to get better on their own, we have to formulate appropriate policies and implement them steadfastly to address the challenges head on”, the President said.
Giving account of efforts to mitigating the economic challenges occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, the President explained that so far, the Federal Government had implemented a wide range of fiscal, prudential and monetary measures that squarely addressed four key necessities.
He said government is ensuring sufficient liquidity, in part to support its programmes for saving lives and livelihoods. He listed others to include maintaining stability of the financial system, ensuring continued delivery of financial services to the public, and shoring up confidence to cushion economic activity.
Also speaking at the conference, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria [CBN], Mr. Godwin Emefiele expressed hope for price moderation, just as he blamed the increase in prices to some fiscal measures adopted recently.
File Photo: Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele speaks at the Nigeria Capital Markets and Banking Forum. Chris J Ratcliffe / Bloomberg
He gave a historical perspective to the inflation trajectory in the country in the beginning of the first quarter of 2020 and response action taken by the apex bank to hedge the trend.
“Inflationary pressure persisted in the first and second half of the year due to several factors.
“In addition to the disruption to global and domestic supply chains as a result of COVID-19, inflation was exacerbated by the increase in VAT rate, exchange rate adjustment and seasonal food supply shocks due to the onset of the farming season and other structural bottlenecks.
“Inflation in July 2020 stood at 12.8 percent. We, however, expect inflation to begin to moderate towards the end of the fourth quarter, as we approach the harvest season, along with the phased withdrawal on restrictions of movement and other measures imposed as a result of COVID-19”, CBN Governor, Emefiele said.
Salaries of political appointees in Ekiti State have been slashed by 50 percent as directed by Governor Kayode Fayemi.
The Governor’s directive was Confirmed this Tuesday by the state’s Commissioner for Information and Values Orientation, Muyiwa Olumilua, who disclosed that the 50 per cent slash on salaries is binding on the Governor, the Deputy Governor, commissioners and all political appointees.
Olumilua clarified that while all political appointees from the bottom up are affected, civil servants are not included in the pay cut.
“Salaries of civil servants will not be affected by this directive and shall maintain the status quo,” Olumilua stated.
The Commissioner disclosed further that Governor Fayemi’s decision was as a result of the financial strain caused by the ravaging coronavirus pandemic and to enable the state save from the pay cut purposely to channel the funds into the implementation of planned developmental projects.
He noted that “this sacrifice is for the welfare of the Ekiti people, which should take pre-eminence over and above all other considerations”.
According to the Commissioner, global economies have been severely affected, a situation that has also put a strain on Nigeria’s finances, including Ekiti and other states.
Olumilua added that as a responsive and responsible government, the Fayemi-led administration has taken stock of its financial situation and thus taking proactive steps.
He further noted that the current reality in the nation is a constantly decreasing receipts from the Federation Account, as well as the state’s dwindling Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). These, he said has caused the government to wake up to tackle its fiscal realities.
“With promises made to the Ekiti people while seeking their mandate, coupled with the moral duty of improving their welfare, a time for making difficult decisions is at hand, and make them we must,” Olumilua said.
Olumilua went ahead to appreciate the patriotism, patience, and cooperation exhibited by affected political office holders in the state.
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