Reform
By Bolaji Buhari
Lagos, April 13, 2018 (NAN) A public policy strategist, Mr Opeyemi Agbaje, on Friday advocated political and constitutional reforms, as a strategy to stimulate sustainable development.
Agbaje, Chief Executive Officer, RTC Advisory Services, made the call at the Vanguard Economic Discourse in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the discourse was “Economic in Rebound: Pitfalls, Trajectory and Resetting”.
Agbaje said that the country’s quest for development would be a mirage, if it continued to maintain its current political structure.
He said there was the need to move away from an arrangement where the Federal Government controlled much more resources than the other tiers of government.
The expert noted said that the central government needed to be freed from some of the responsibilities that could be better performed by the lower tiers.
Agbaje also said that the cost of governance and incentives for political offices should be reduced to promote development.
“The biggest problem the country is facing in my view is the political structure.
“We would continue to have problems if the Federal Government spends over 70 per cent of resources on recurrent and all that.
“We will continue to have problem if the central government takes so much and burdens itself with things better handled by other tiers.
“Again, we need to change the incentives of government.We just need to change the political structure,” he said.
Agbaje said there was the need to regulate and control the country ‘s population, in relation to the country ‘s resources.
The expert called for massive investment in human capital, to make the country ‘s population a real asset.
Also speaking, Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr Muda Yusuf, called on government to broaden the tax net, to improve non-oil revenue.
He said that this would help to diversify the economy in the face of the volatility of crude oil price.
Yusuf decried what he called the overtaxing of the formal sector, saying the situation was a burden on businesses.
In his remarks, a member of the National Executive Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress(NLC), Mr Isa Aremu, urged the government to invest heavily in the railway, owing to its potential to stimulate economic growth.
He said the country, with its huge population, needed an efficient railway system to ensure seamless movement of people and goods.
Aremu called for the right pricing of labour, as “labour is the greatest asset of any nation”.
He said the minimum wage in the country had been eroded by inflation, calling for an urgent upward review.
Former Director-General of the Budget Office, Mr Bode Agusto,who was the keynote speaker, said that there was the need to control inflation and interest rate, to promote the economy.
He also urged the government to formulate a sustainable foreign exchange policy, to attract investment and grow the economy. (NAN)
BHB/FLP/SOA
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Edited by Folorunso Poroye/Oluwole Sogunle