Experts in the financial and stock market sectors are divided over the state of the Nigerian economy, even as the most populated black nation clocks 57.
A cross-section of the experts, who spoke with The Point in separate interviews, gave both kudos and knocks to both current and immediate past administrations of the Federal Government.
While some of them believe that the capital market, which is one of the major barometers to measure the growth of the economy, has witnessed tremendous growth over the years, especially having survived the 2008/09 near crash, others argue that the nation is not manifesting the required progress because it lacks thinkers.
Among the experts that argued for the growth of the economy was a professor of Financial Economics, Mr. Leo Ukpong.
As far as he is concerned, the nation’s bourse, which is also 57 years old, has grown over the years. Despite the near crash it witnessed in 2008/09, he believes its performance has been rewarding to several investors.
“It has witnessed booms and burst cycles in response to oil price volatility. Given the country’s mono-product economy, the market has been bullish for most of the time, following rising oil prices, but bearish, when oil prices decline.
“It is now compelling more than ever, for the Federal Government to demonstrate the political will to work very closely with the capital market regulators and operators on ways to encourage multinational companies to be quoted on the Exchange, to deepen the market,” he said.
Like Ukpong, the Managing Director, APT Securities and Funds Limited, Mallam Kasimu Kurfi, said the capital market performance had shown that there was hope for Nigeria.
He said, “2017 second quarter performance alone was excellent with a gain of over 30 per cent. It was really exceptional. It was the longest ever gain, that we achieved in a quarter.
“The ability of the Central Bank of Nigeria to sustain its intervention in the foreign exchange market is an indication that the government has learnt from the mistakes of its predecessor, which is also an indication that the economy is on its path to compete with other developed nations.
“That is one reason I have said that there is hope for Nigeria. Other advanced countries like the United States of America went through these challenging processes before they got it right. As we mark our 57thIndependence anniversary, my message to investors (both local and foreign) is to keep hope alive. We will get it soon.”
‘GOVT LACKS THINKERS’
Unlike Kurfi, another economist, Dr. Bunmi Meyungbo, said Nigeria was not manifesting the required progress, as it lacked the think-tanks that ought to move it forward.
According to him, for the country to make progress, it must begin to train undergraduates to think about the kind of future they desire, as in the developed countries, “which our leaders claim to be looking up to.”
He said Nigeria could achieve greatness through an economy designed to promote and encourage owners of small businesses.
He added, “The best credible path to true intellectual freedom, innovation and national development is to revive the education, power, and agriculture sectors. But many of the crop of leaders that had led the country were really not thinkers, while some were anti-intellectual.
“This is the fact that the current public culture in Nigeria is deeply anti-intellectual, even though commonsense makes us pretend about it or deny that this is the case. The effect of this anti-intellectual disposition of those who have dominated public life for a good part of our recent history is reflected in how much the promise of Nigeria has not been claimed.”
An associate professor of banking and finance, Nasarawa State University, Mr. Uche Uwaleke, explained that the positive macroeconomic indicators witnessed in recent times were still fragile and vulnerable to oil price shock.
He insisted that the Q2 Gross Domestic Product growth was chiefly driven by the oil sector. Similarly, improvement in capital importation was more from the highly volatile portfolio investment.
“The implementation of the 2017 budget, especially the capital component, in line with the government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan should be pursued with vigour, else, the nation is going backward anytime soon,” he said.
On the other hand, other analysts urge Nigerians to change their lawless habits if they also want any government to be successful.
A fund manager, Mr. Kayode Owoseni, said, “We must change our unruly behaviour in schools, hospitals, market places, motor parks, on the roads, in homes and offices. Nigeria is 57 years old, and a 57-year-old man is no longer a baby.”
He explained that in efforts to bring about the desired change, Nigerians necessarily had to change into law-abiding citizens, and that the big issues in the country were the failure of leadership, corruption and perpetual anxiety about the future.
“Every October 1, Nigeria is described as ‘a crippled giant,’ a ‘toddler,’ ‘a broken nation.’ And the various editorials, year after year, sound as repetitive as they focus on an economy that is not
working,” he noted.
Owoseni also expressed displeasure over the failure of public infrastructure, leadership crisis, bad habits of the political elite, religious and ethnic violence, disunity, and other forms of crimes and strives.
“Without addressing these issues, celebrating independence will amount to waste of funds,” he added.
