By Ajibike Olanrewaju
Prominent economist, Dr Paul Alaje has given a golden counsel to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the state of Nigeria’s economy: Go back to the drawing board in humility and urgently reverse all economic policies introduced by the Administration that have been making life hard for Nigerians and worsening the economic hardship and hunger currently being faced by the populace.
The expert submitted that the Federal government already took the left foot forward when it hurriedly pronounced removal of petroleum subsidy without putting in a place well-thought out and sustainable economic measures.
He argued that life is already hard for Nigerians who have become victims of what he termed: “vision-less economic policies”, submitting that any further pressure on the people is capable of pushing the populace to the walls and might spark uprising of an unimaginable dimension.
Dr Alaje, the Chief Economist at SPM Professionals, spoke on the popular monthly interview discourse, BOILING POINT ARENA on Sunday night. He was paired by another discussant, Prof. Remi Aiyede of the University of Ibadan.
The current affairs programme which held on Zoom and was broadcast live on a radio station, Sweet 107.1FM, was hosted by a media professional, Dr Ayo Arowojolu.
A foremost traditional ruler, Oba(Dr) Adetoye Alatishe, the Gbegande of Ososa-Ijebu, was the Keynote Speaker under a topic titled: “Nigeria and the Debt Trap – How Unbridled Borrowing is Pushing Nigeria to Insolvency and the Way Out”.
Dr Alaje said: “The inflation rate in Nigeria is increasing on a monthly, if not, daily basis and has now increased with about 34%. Food inflation is now already 40%.
“We do not need any soothsayer to raise the alarm that we are already walking on egg-shell. We need to quickly find policies that will reduce the impact on the people.
“It’s a big challenge for the authorities. They must be careful so that people are not pushed to the wall and we need to quickly jettison anything that will make things harder for the people.
“There is nothing impossible. We must learn lessons from the Kenya uprising. Nigeria must avoid such occurrence. It is dangerous with our population. It is not what is desirable for us as a nation.
“Don’t forget that Nigerian youths have already had a taste of ENDSARS protests. We all must avoid every sort of thing that can lead to a protest or violence. For me, I don’t support any form of violence. Violence has no place in our role as professional economist. We are like prophets, we can only warn”.
Dr Alaje also spoke about the implications of the country’s huge indebtedness to the World Bank, IMF and other international creditors on the seemingly uncontrollable inflation in the nation.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria unfortunately got it wrong in its bid to increase money supply. When you raise interest rates in an inflationary period and a country not productive and that is highly dependent on money devaluation as major source of income, rather than seeing inflation going down, unfortunately inflation will go up”, he submitted.
