BY DENNIS UDOMA, Uyo
The free fall of “The Naira” in recent years has invoked worries of economists from the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State to profer remedies to salvage the bad economy.
The pact, led by a renowned economist, Prof. Akpan Horgan Ekpo as presenter said, Nigeria’s economy cannot grow without constant power supply to enhance productivity and manufacturing to boost the economy.
Ekpo spoke at a public lecture titled, “The ‘Collapse’ of the Naira” organized by the Faculty of Management Sciences, University of Uyo on Monday.
He said that, constant power supply in the country is a necessity to drive productivity for improved economy, as cost of power generation was too high for private sector to thrive.
The guest lecturer further stressed that, Naira has depreciated considerably due to the removal of fuel subsidy and the merger of the dual foreign exchange market in order to allow market forces to determine the value of domestic currency.
The former Vice – Chancellor of UNIUYO added that, fuel subsidy removal has resulted in not only untold hardship for majority of Nigerians but, has sent unnecessary shocks to the foreign exchange market.
He suggested that if the free fall of the Naira is not abated, it might result in hyperinflation which may lead to currency crisis with debilitating effects on the economy nothing that, the Naira has not collapsed for now because of some interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
According to him, “the structure of the Nigerian economy does not favour the opening up of the foreign exchange market for exchange rate determination through market forces.
“In the Nigerian context, the foreign exchange market is not competitive.
In the long run, the economy has to become productive, producing non oil goods and services for export and earn foreign exchange for the economy.
“For now, the economy must return to managed float exchange regime and direct policies at attracting investment, foreign and domestic.
“For this to occur, the security situation must be adequately addressed,” Ekpo said.
The Professor of Economics and Public Policy said that, the Nigerian economy is at its lowest as all macroeconomic indicators have been moving in the wrong direction since 2015.
He noted that rates of inflation is double digit as well as rising unemployment and underemployment in the country.
He appealed to President Tinubu’s administration to be bold enough to reverse some of the government policies that have resulted in untold hardship on the citizens.
“The problem was not necessarily the dual exchange rates but the prevalence of multiple exchange rates. There were exchange rates for religious pilgrimage, powerful private sector players and for government transactions.
“The management of the multiple exchange rates created serious problems for the mangers of the economy particularly, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Also, the Dean, Faculty of Management Sciences, Prof. Uduak Ubom said that, while the nominal value of Naira remains the same, the purchasing power keeps on declining on daily basis.
Ubom, however, said that the rate, rapidity, frequency and persistency as well as the influences of the decline in the currency values on the performance of the economy differs from one country to another.
He said the faculty of management sciences has taken as a dedicated function to organize public lectures to examine, inform and educate members of the public on emerging issues from time to time.
“It is on this note that the Faculty of Management Sciences has assembled experts with sound and established wealth of knowledge and adequate levels of exposure to examine and educate us on this threatening issue, the ‘Collapse’ of the Naira.
The Vice Chancellor, University of Uyo, Prof. Nyaudoh Ndaeyo, commended the faculty of management sciences for the public lecture, stressing that it was apt as it dealt with contemporary issues.
He also thanked the presenter, Prof. Akpan Ekpo for the public lecture saying that, as a renowned economist and public policy expert the solutions provided would helpful to the government.
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