A lawyer and economic historian, Mr Tunji Ogunyemi, on Tuesday advised the Federal Government to cut its coat according to its cloth in order to cushion the effect of dwindling oil price in the global market.
Apart from advising the Federal Government to diversify the economy and give priority to the agricultural sector, Mr Ogunyemi urged the Federal Government to “do something about the recurrent budget” and peg the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and 2015 Budget proposal to the National Assembly at $50 per barrel.
He also said that it is rare to find significant growth in countries that depend largely on the extractive industries to run the economy, maintaining that “the greatest value a country can add to its economy is developing its human resources, education and agriculture.
“No single industry in this country can employ people as much as agriculture”, he said while speaking as a guest on Sunrise Daily.
Mr Ogunyemi further said Nigeria has depended solely on oil because “we are helpless and we have an economy that is not productive.
“The problem of our country is that people just lack the will to say enough is enough”, he said.
With 85 per cent of the Budget allocated to recurrent expenditure, Mr Ogunyemi decried the fact that “we spend too much on governing ourselves”, adding that “N8 of every N10 Nigeria makes is spent on paying salaries, political office holders and overheads; it just goes into consumption”, he lamented.
He added that despite the pool of ideas available in the country, the system has just decided not to move forward because “we lack the political will to bring them on board”.
The economic historian however noted that the measure adopted by the Federal Government to cushion the effect of global oil prices may not be implemented because “we don’t have a system in which people just stick to their plans.
“I would have accepted the Finance Minister’s argument, if government had stuck to its plans in the past.
He predicted that “oil prices will continue to fall as long as Russia remains in Ukraine” adding that “it is an international conspiracy because Russia, being a large exporter of oil, and with the United States wanting to deal with that system, then you are going to have continuous fall”.
Mr Ogunyemi also said Nigerians are yet to fully understand what the Federal Government is trying to do with the introduction of austerity measures to cushion the effect of dwindling global oil prices despite being in a similar situation under the Shehu Shagari regime in 1982.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had on Sunday appealed to Nigerians to tighten their belts ahead of the stringent economic measures being proposed by the Federal Government following a drop in oil price in the global market.
Addressing a Media Briefing in Abuja Dr Okonjo-Iweala declared that the Federal Ministry of Finance has been keeping a close eye on movements in global oil prices because of the critical importance of oil as the country’s most important source of revenue.
As part of the response, the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the 2015 Budget proposal to the National Assembly have been revised.
As a result, the Federal Government will be proposing a benchmark of $73 dollars per barrel to the National Assembly compared to the earlier proposed benchmark of $78.
