A group of Nigeria’s econo my analysts concerned citizens will, this Saturday converge on Lagos to critically appraise the proposed 2019 Appropriation Bill with a view to adequately informing the Legislature and the Executive on critical areas they should lay emphasis to mitigate poverty in the country.
Amongst the leading experts scheduled to speak at the forum with the theme ‘Nigerian Economic Outlook: 2019 Elections – Nigeria Calls’, are the Managing Director/CEO Financial Derivatives Company Ltd, Mr. Bismarck Rewane; who will deliver the Keynote Address; the West Africa Director Ford Foundation;
Mr Innocent Chukwuma, who will also speak on the topic ‘Impact of the 2019 elections on the socio-political environment and requirements for
sustainable growth and develop
Bismarck RewaneRewane
ment.’
Others include, the CEO of Teasy Pay, Mr. Musa Ali-Baba, whose topic is ‘2019 elections and the Business environment and opportunities’ and Ms. Yemi Adamolekun, who will speak broadly on the ‘2019 Elections’.
According to the organizers of the event, the ‘Nigerian Economic Outlook Forum’ is a market-focused parley which seeks to provide insight and promote understanding of the environment and opportunities in Nigeria particularly with respect to the annual National Budget.
Specifically, the objective is to equip participants with the requisite knowledge of the insights, implications and opportunities which the 2019 budget presents for the Nigerian economy.
Recalling that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on 7th December 2018, approved the proposed 2019 budget of N8.9 trillion, representing
about N200 billion lower than the 2018 budget – for presentation to the National Assembly for consideration, the experts pointed out that despite moderate progress on economic recovery and growth, the country remained threatened by vulnerability on multiple fronts – economic, social and political.
According to analysts, the challenges are exacerbated further by negative trends in human development conditions as key socio-economic indicators had not fare well.
For instance, they stated that the latest NBS report showed that unemployment and underemployment rates rose from 35.2% in 2016 Q4 to 40% as at 2017 Q3, which implies that over 4 million Nigerians lost their jobs in that period. Weak institutional framework, poverty,
youth unemployment and a heightened crime rate have been the dominant issues in the country.
This is even as the analysts noted that Nigeria’s growth in the last decade came with a proportional rise in poverty and unemployment due to the lack of inclusiveness, as over 85 million Nigerians lived below the national poverty line in 2017.
Similarly, they stated that the latest data released by the Central Bank of Nigeria revealed that foreign investors continued to reduce
investments into the country, with capital importation over Q3 2018 declining by 48.2% QoQ to $2.9 billion, well below a quarterly high of $6.3 billion in Q1 2018.
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