Adewale Sanyaolu
With President Muhammadu Buhari, announced the winner of the 2019 Presidential elections held last week, the Nigerian business community yesterday tasked the new administration to hit the ground running and deliver on its election promises.
In separate interviews with Daily Sun, economy experts identified various gaps in the economic policies of the Federal Government leading to failed promises due to its uncoordinated approach towards policy implementation.
Speaking with Daily Sun in Lagos, Thursday, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Mr. Bismark Rewane, pointed out that the era of promises are overas the government should now settle down to work and stop giving excuses.
He urged the new administration of Buhari to urgently address the issue of escalating poverty in the country which he said is attaining a very embarrassing dimension among the comity of nations.
He noted that the poverty problem in Nigeria was not all about leakages and corruption but about inefficiency in the system, adding that how come the many people in government have not been able to address some of the shortcomings of the current administration.
He advised that the Buhari administration should focus on optimising the use of the abundant talents in the country to improve governance while ensuring that things are done efficiently in a bid to manage the limited resources available to government.
‘‘What we had before now are a lot of wishes, conversations and intentions. But for now, all Nigerians are craving for is impact. Government should be able to leave a legacy and impact the people positively. Government must give up something it cannot do.
Who are the fresh people or ideas they are bringing on board to inject new thinking into governance? We cannot continue to move in the old direction because we have all seen where that has landed us.
All the things government cannot do, they should begin to do them now. Politics is over. It is now time for work. The Goodluck administration increased fuel prices and there was riot everywhere. But this same administration equally increased fuel prices, and there were no riots because the people believed in the administration. However, there are still subsidies today. So, something must just happen, he advised’’
For his part, Partner, Bloomfield Law Practice, Mr. Ayodele Oni, said the ranking of Nigeria as the poverty capital of the world should be a priority to the new administration to address, saying more and more Nigerians are on a daily basis falling into the poverty net.
Oni said government must ensure there is improvement in power supply, especially from the national grid system, warning that without constant power supply, businesses cannot thrive, while more citizens, especially those in the SME sector would become poorer. He said government should do away with its socialist posture and empower businesses to thrive through the provision of robust infrastructure, especially to grow the economy because more and more people would be employed with adequate power.
Oni said the lack of infrastructure has made business difficult in Nigeria, leading to high operational costs, a move that has seen several IOCs seek new haven in Ghana and Angola.
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