Unfavourable economic situation worries policy expert

iyebiye olawuyi

February 23, 2017 3:59 PM

Obaze that the inflation in the country was no longer acceptable as it had eroded the purchasing power of the masses.

Recession

Mr Oseloka Obaze, Managing Director of Selonnes Consult Ltd, a Governance and Policy Consultancy firm, has expressed concern about the harsh economic environment in Nigeria.

Obaze said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Awka on Thursday that the inflation in the country was no longer acceptable as it had eroded the purchasing power of the masses.

He said Nigeria was in recession and in an economic situation that required urgent policy direction to address the hunger and hardship among the citizens.

“Nigeria is not just in a recession, we are in deep trouble."

“Nigerians are hungry; food and commodity prices are rocketing and the economy is underperforming in all sectors."

“Inflation stands at 19 per cent; we urgently need to get our foreign exchange policies right,” he said.

Obaze, who is a gubernatorial aspirant in the 2017 Anambra elections, called for a reduction in the cost of governance at the federal and state levels.

“It is wrong for federal and state governments to be borrowing to finance non-capital expenditure."

“For now, there is a huge deficit of policy coherence and coordination; ill-conceived policies and knee-jerk responses to our economic crises won’t help us."

“We need to cut the cost of governance, at the federal state levels,” he said.

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