Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Dr Olisa Agbakoba, says there is the need for some agencies of the Federal Government to come together and harness their potentials in order for Nigeria to experience rapid economic growth.
According to him, harnessing the potentials and resources of such Agencies could be done under the auspices of the Office of the Vice President which, according to him, has shown “intellectual diligence’’.
“I like to see agencies such as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Nigerian Maritime and Safety Agency (NIMASA) come together with the Minister of Finance, to review how far we can harness our resources, ‘’.
Agbakoba, founding Partner of Olisa Agbakoba and Associates, a maritime law firm, gave the advice recently in Lagos at a forum organized by the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN). Discussions at the event focused on the 2021 federal budget and the Nigerian economy as he emphasized the for the federal government to embrace fiscal responsibility by reducing its cost of governance.
“It is one of the principles of fiscal responsibility for the government to say, ‘we are shrinking out of business.’ Look at the four refineries, they are just there doing nothing when they can be sold. Just as a result of the pressure government is feeling it suddenly have put up Afam power station, Omotosho power station and it is going to bring about N500 billion.’’
The SAN urged the Federal Government to look within and sell off “unwanted assets’’ to the private sector. According to him, Nigeria could take a cue from former US President Barack Obama, who in 2009 came up with the American Recovery Act under which the American economy was revived.
He said it is possible for Nigeria to do something similar but noted that it would require “a lot of critical thinking’’. He said after putting the necessary structures in place the government would need to involve the private sector. He called on the government not to involve itself in the running of enterprises, stating that the country needed a new economic planning and ideology.
The senior lawyer expressed his dissatisfaction with the current economic sustainability plan of the government, pointing that the operational aspect of the plan ought not be in the hands of the government but the private sector.
On the 2021 federal budget, he cautioned that it was full of procurement by public institutions and said such was hardly seen in a US federal budget.
Agbakoba also emphasized that government should limit itself to policy formulation and play the role of a regulator while the private sector run the enterprises in order for the economy to work.
“When you look at the 2021 budget, you find out that there is no way Nigeria is going to grow at three per cent next year. “No country comes from minus eight per cent to three per cent, from the negative or minus to a positive of three,’’ .
He argued that by privatizing most of its dwindling assets, over N30 trillion could be raised to fund essential infrastructure thereby reducing governments borrowing to fund its budget.
