Presidential candidate of the Young Progressive Party (YPP) in 2019, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu has explained three approaches to transform the nation’s ailing economy.
The former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) gave the explanation in a series of tweets on Monday.
He wrote, “To transform Nigeria’s economy we must: 1) restructure back to regional federalism, devolving at least half of the 68 items on the Exclusive Legislative List in the 1999 Constitution to regional governments; regions should control their resources and pay 40% as tax to FG;
“2) Clarify the philosophy that will drive Nigeria’s economy, and then empower technocrats, not politicians (at our present stage of development) to run the economy. What type of capitalism?: Entrepreneurial (USA), Welfarist (Europe), Crony (Russia) or State capitalism (China)?
“3)Then we must prioritize three things: a) effective and efficient taxation as our main source of revenue (not oil); (b) savings over populist spending, and take tough decisions to cut the cost of governance; (c) investment in education and skills, and healthcare before all else
“This is the foundational approach to economic transformation, followed by a focus that combines small business entrepreneurship with industrialization based on value addition, backed by trade and exchange rate policy reform that creates incentives for export-driven manufacturing.
“Chief amongst these is the devaluation of the naira so it can find its true level, rather than keeping artificial rates with forex subsidies by @cenbank , which encourages import dependency. Next, a true, HONEST, transparent ending of petrol subsidy and deregulation of pricing.
“These steps can all be taken if the political will is there. Solving Nigeria’s economic crisis calls for a combination of constitutional and political reforms with more philosophical clarity and competent technocratic economic management. This isn’t rocket science!”
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