Economist urges FG to prioritise power, security in 2024

An economist, Prof. Akpan Ekpo, has advised the Federal Government to prioritise power and security in 2024 to boost economic growth and development.

Ekpo, who is the Chairman, Foundation for Economic Research and Training, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Thursday in Lagos.

He was speaking on how the nation’s economy fared in 2023 and expectations in 2024.

According to him, failing to do so could have significant negative consequences.

“For 2024 the government must solve the power problem, address squarely security and return to a managed float exchange rate regime otherwise the challenge in the foreign exchange market will continue.

“You do not open up a market and force it to be competitive when you are not sure of supply and access; in addition, you are not able to curtail demand.

He expressed the hope that President Bola Tinubu would take concrete actions in 2024 to address issues or fulfill promises.

Ekpo said, however, that 2023 was the worst year for Nigeria.

He said, “all macroeconomic indicators moved in the wrong direction; unemployment rate was about 40 per cent; inflation rate stood at 28 per cent with food inflation at 30 per cent.

“The misery index 86 per cent and two-thirds of Nigerians were in multidimensional poverty; power supply was epileptic-the economy remained generator driven; the economy remained largely undiversified.

“I have never seen Nigeria so bad comprehensively. The hardship will continue in 2024 except there is a stop to trickle-down economic policies,’’ he said.

He suggested that the current Nigerian economy requires active government intervention to recover in 2024.

“For 2024 based on the structure of our economy the visible hand of government is required to put the economy on a recovery path.

“Heavy reliance on market driven neoliberal economic policies will further ‘kill’ the economy.

“The private sector is one of the engines of growth but not development; the government must be a catalyst in 2024 and move the economy towards production with the private sector as partner,” he said.