Economists describe Tinubu’s pronouncements conciliatory

By Lydia Ngwakwe

Prof. Ken Ife, a financial expert, has described President Bola Tinubu’s inaugural speech as conciliatory, filled with lots of hope.

Ife told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos that the president’s speech showed readiness and willingness to end any disagreement that might have arisen from the just concluded elections that brought him to power.

“I see a lot of hope in the President’s speech. In fact, what I like in his speech is the conciliatory tone; that is very important and then recognising that the battle is over, that is, from a political perspective.

“So, it’s now about governance and in governing an entity called Nigeria, ” he said.

According to him, Tinubu was full of promises of where we are heading to and he showed firm resolve and courage in saying subsidy has ended.

“But more details will come out on what kind of palliatives and directions he is going to go,’’ he added.

Ife also said that the president’s target of six per cent gross domestic product growth on the economy was possible, necessary and realistic, urging him to improve on investment in the economy to achieve that.

On the president’s plan to work toward a unified exchange rate, Ife said it was a good objective to work toward.

 

The economist, however, noted  that the unified exchange rate was not something that would be achieved in a hurry because of the price mechanism; demand and supply.

Also analysing the President’s speech, Dr Boniface Chizea, also an  economist, said that Tinubu’s target of six per cent gross domestic product growth on the economy would be good  benefits for the economy if he could achieve it.

“Six per cent GDP growth is good for the economy if he can achieve it. That is wonderful and it will bring improvement to the quality of life of the people.

“We want the economy to grow more than the rate of our population growth; the rate of our population growth in Nigeria is about 2.41 per cent,’’ he said.

On Tinubu’s plan to review complaints about multiple taxation and exchange rates unification, Chizea said, “all these are not new, what we have to concentrate overall is ease of doing business.

“But multiple taxation is what also affects companies leaving Nigeria to Ghana and other countries, because companies don’t want to be taxed here and there. But, it’s better for us to subsume that under ease of doing business.

“And Ease of doing business will see us have access to roads, customs, security, sanctity of contracts, legal system, among others.

“It’s a good thing to do, but the thing we must know is that we have challenges with revenue, so we need to find a way to enhance our revenue.

“Our tax revenue to GDP is one of the lowest. So, the government has to find a way to address that, maybe not increase tax but to broaden the tax net to bring in more people,’’ the business development consultant said.

(NAN)