According to the Institute of Credit Administration, (ICA) the major driver of the economic reform agenda should be the availability of credit in monetary and trade terms to fuel export of made-in-Nigeria goods.
The National reformer explains that it is funny how most goods and products used today in Nigeria are imported from foreign lands, including African countries. The sad part is that most of these goods/products are substandard. In fact, even foreign manufacturing companies are aware that Nigeria is actually a dumping ground for substandard goods/products. This is so simply because the country’s manufacturing sector has not been developed to be able to adequately meet the demands of the enormous Nigerian populace.
Hence, some marketers, driven purely by insatiable greed, are cashing on this lacuna to specially ask foreign manufacturers, especially those in China, to produce substandard goods/products at a cheaper cost price, and export same to Nigeria to make double the profit. Even in the midst of this anomaly that is not regulated by relevant authorities like the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), some high quality made in Nigeria goods/products, are not even patronized by some foreign companies and multinationals operating in the country. Rather, they prefer to patronize the foreign ones.
In a statement signed by the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer, Chris Onalo,the institute stated that priorities should be given to the economic, social and security situation in the country, and that the incoming administration must build a strong economy for the future.
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Locally made products accounted for 89.2 percent contribution toward Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product in 2014, a far cry from 68.9 percent contribution recorded in 2011. The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has further encouraged this cause by making the non-oil export a significant contributor to Nigeria’s GDP.
Made-In-Nigeria Products Promotion Organization (MINPPRO) promotes products and services made in Nigeria to international markets. It identifies and sources appropriate technology for production that will enhance global competitiveness. It serves as the regulatory body to check production activities within the country.
The institute said the government’s approach should be to focus very quickly on structural reforms, fiscal responsibility and investment.
ICA is sure that the government would quickly gain local and global acceptance if it drastically cut the cost of doing business in Nigeria.
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It stated that it was possible to fix electricity by all means within six months; prioritise nationwide road construction; set up as a matter of urgency a national agency that would guarantee access to loans by small and medium enterprises, and not to disburse loans to them.
The ICA statement says: “Such an agency can be called Nigerian Credit Guarantee Corporation. If a NCGC is set up by the Federal Government with strong capital base and very robust operating fund, you can be sure that corporation will serve as collateral and security, which people who want to borrow money do not have; that is, those within the class of SMEs. This is the practice in other countries”.
The organization noted that the policy thrust of the government should be economic revival and massive infrastructural build-up to help boost economic growth.
The experts say the Central Bank of Nigeria is saddled with too many things, adding that there was a need to scale down the functions of the CBN to make it more functional and efficient with its traditional monetary policy moderation mandate.
“Nigeria must engage free market economy in order to achieve overall resilience in economic activity, employment and fiscal performanse. Oil must be de-emphasised and agriculture must become a major backbone of the nation’s economic growth. Buhari administration must quickly overhaul the educational system to produce best brains for the labour market and resolve to work largely with the best professionals.”
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