Omoniyi, a lecturer, Economics Department, Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Arakeji, Osun, made the call in an interview with our reporter on Monday.

It was reported that September inflation index by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which stood at 13.71 per cent was a 0.49 per cent increase from 13.22 per cent in August.

Food inflation stood at 16.66 per cent in September from 16.00 per cent in August and core inflation was at 10.58 per cent in September from 10.52 per cent in August.

Omoniyi urged government on strengthening the Naira, maintaining price index and engaging policies to reduce inflation rate to single digit.

He said the inflation figure, which was in double digit would have negative impact on citizens, who for some months were without income due to the effects COVID-19 pandemic.

He said this resulted in a reduction in purchasing power and declining welfare for citizens.

“In the case of purchasing power improvement, it is evident that the lockdown caused by COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected the welfare of everyone in Nigeria, especially the greatest proportion of the population who are the poor.

“This arises via high prices of both serial and finished products thereby reducing the purchasing power of the Nigerian naira, which subsequently led to increase cost of living thereby creating hardship on the people.

“To ameliorate this problem, the government should increase government purchases and reduce taxes impositions so that improved level of disposable income is guaranteed in the post-COVID-19 period,” he said.

Omoniyi said that the increase in the rate of inflation could affect the prices of manufactured products negatively, thereby reducing the demand for them.

He said this would further disturb Nigeria’s industrialisation process by making manufactured products more expensive such that the citizens would prefer to patronise foreign products against locally produced ones.

“This would enable local manufacturing firms because high prices will prevent them from competing with foreign firms.

“It is also worthy to note that high domestic price may simply turn Nigerians products to became unacceptable abroad.

“This may eventually lower foreign exchange earning capacity of Nigeria,” he said.

The economist stressed the need to seek ways to increase the purchasing power of citizens by the creation of policies that would engender increased disposable income.

Omoniyi recommended that this could be achieved through tax cut with its attendant multiplier effects on consumer’s finances.

He urged government to engage measures that would lead to a decrease in the cost of communication and transportation via improved rail system.

“This may lead transport people to lower their cost and move into the interior part of Nigeria to move agricultural products from production areas to where they are needed.

“This will improve farm income thereby enhancing purchasing capacities of rural areas.

“Furthermore, government may also introduce policies of improved rural infrastructure to improve living conditions of the people.

“Additionally, government may increase her expenditure through government purchases to enable the public have access to public goods and improved businesses,” he said.

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The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umaru Danbatta, made this known on Wednesday during a virtual innovative tech forum organised by Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA).

The theme of the event was ‘Multi-Stakeholders Approach to National Recovery Post-Pandemic’.

Dambatta said that the stakeholders included the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).

He said other bodies working with the Commission to establish the 5G policy were Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), the Academia, Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) and Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), among others.

“Our goal is that when the Federal Government is able to establish a policy that will drive 5G, all the benefits of 5G will be properly harnessed by Nigerians.

“The Commission is also working to ensure the safety of 5G networks in Nigeria by having multi-stakeholder approach in environmental impact analysis on the use of 5G and the Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) impact on humans in Nigeria.

“Once this is done, Nigerians can safely utilize 5G and reap all the economic, human and material benefits of 5G,” he said.

Danbatta said that the economic benefits of 5G to Nigeria post coronavirus pandemic would be huge, especially as almost all businesses and activities of government are migrating and offering their services online.

He noted that 5G would enable a new kind of network for Nigerians, adding that it is designed to connect virtually everyone and everything together including machines, objects and devices.

Danbatta said it would usher in the era of Internet of Things and faster innovation in Artificial Intelligence applications.

“Nigeria’s vibrant youth population stands to benefit immensely from the deployment of 5G as it will offer technopreneurs, technology enthusiasts, SMEs and Tech-startups the platform to expand and network with other global players on a scale that has never been witnessed before.

“With high speeds, superior reliability and negligible latency, 5G will expand the mobile ecosystem into new realms.

“5G promises to impact every industry, creating safer transporting systems, improving access to healthcare for our rural populace, increasing output from the agriculture sector, and digitized logistics among others,”he said.

Danbatta said that according to a landmark economy study conducted by QUALCOMM, 5G would affect the global economy and drive growth exponentially.

He noted that its full economic effect would likely be realised across the globe by 2035, adding that it would be supporting a wide range of industries and potentially enabling up to 13.2 trillion dollars worth of goods and services.

“We are all aware of the controversies surrounding COVID-19 and 5G technology. It is normal for the emergence of new technologies to be followed by such disagreements and the debate is mostly useful.

“We at the Commission, however, are inevitably committed to examining the pros and cons.

“The socio-economic benefits of the expansion in telecommunications capabilities embarked upon by the Commission would be of immense benefit to the country, especially with the roll out of the 5G technology, which currently is being test run in about 40 countries,” Danbatta said.

He noted that rollout would be a significant upgrade for networks and also a backbone for the ICT industry post-pandemic recovery.

Danbatta said according to the ITU, 5G technology was expected to connect people, things, data, applications, transport systems and cities in smart networked communicons environments.

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Malam Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, in a statement in Abuja on Friday, said Buhari stated this at a meeting with Katsina State Elders Forum in Abuja.

The president, who described agriculture as the country’s largest employer of labour and engine of growth, said his administration would continue to take steps to enhance output and productivity.

“This will be achieved by ensuring the availability of cheap agricultural credits, farm inputs, fertiliser and the introduction of latest technologies,” the statement quoted Buhari as saying.

Buhari said the choice of practicing farmers as ministers in charge of agriculture, first Chief Audu Ogbe and now, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, was a reflection of his strong wish to protect the interest of farmers and the attainment of national food self-sufficiency.

He agreed to look into the request of the elders for the expansion of existing irrigation schemes at Zobe and Sabke dams to enhance employment and profitability in agriculture.

He maintained that a situation in which 60 per cent of the state is productive in rain-fed agriculture for three to four months, and idle for the rest of the year, was unacceptable.

The president told the meeting that he had charged his ministers of agriculture to work with the states to rediscover the lost animal grazing routes and reserves as a means to ending the frequent outbreak of violence between farmers and herders.

He also pressed the necessity of educating school-age children, declaring that “once the opportunity of early education is lost, it often turns out very difficult for them to make up.

“This is the best preparation we can give to them. We destroy their lives by denying children education,” he pointed out.

Buhari also broached the issue of armed banditry and kidnapping that had bedevilled Katsina and other northwestern states, and said that the situation was being tackled the same way the farmer-herders attacks were subdued.

The leader of the delegation, Alhaji Aliyu Saulawa, who represented Alhaji Ahmadu Kurfi, Chairman of the forum, commended the president for returning peace to most parts of the state and for the various infrastructure projects, especially the Kano-Jigawa-Katsina-Maradi rail link.

They welcomed the recent decision by government to elongate the service of teachers and improve their conditions of service.

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