A lecturer from the Pan Atlantic University, Dr Austin Nweze today (Thursday) described Nigeria’s economy as the “reverse” of what is obtainable in other parts of the world.
Commenting on the increase of price on products and services during the Christmas period, Dr Nweze recounted his time as a student in Canada where “Christmas time is the best time to get things cheap; really really cheap”.
He said that there were usually so many discount, as “so many items are discounted just for the period” insisting that the end of the year should be “the best time to shop”.
He noted that in such climes, the Christmas period is regarded as “spending time” after saving from January to November period, which is regarded as “saving time”. He added that “even the stock exchanges feel the impact of the expenditures that go on during Christmas”.
He went on berating the discount tactic employed by retail and wholesale marketers in Nigeria.
“They will pretend to give discounts, but what they usually do is to increase the price first of all, and then (maybe) return it to a normal level or higher than the normal” maintaining that ‘’it is not supposed to be”.
Noting that a service economy is imperative, he berated the low impact manufacturing has made to the Nigerian economy which he pegged at 2.4 to 3 per cent compared to the United States of America’s 80 per cent.
Dr Nweze, quoting statistics from the International Trade Centre, said that by 2050, 80 per cent of the minimum global work force would be in services, which means “that you have to move from production to service” adding that “even when you are producing, you are also providing service; they work hand in hand”.
He further noted that Nigerians do not produce, he said “we consume too much” because “nobody is thinking of producing anything here,” a situation which he said also “extends to policy making”.
He advised policy makers to stop indulging in the habit of making policies that would not benefit the people because of the mode of operation used in implementing the policy. He said: “they make policies to encourage businesses, but they use the other hand to collect it back through interest rates”.
He said that if given the opportunity to run the economy, he would not “worry about inflation” but he would “make sure that the productive capacity of the nation; businesses are producing at the optimal level”.
He further said that he would look at other areas in the country and put in place a “factor-endowed based development strategy” to see what could be done to encourage production and manufacturing.
