BY BAYO AMODU, Abuja and OLUSHOLA BELLO and YUSUF BABALOLA, Lagos
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has applauded the federal government for wriggling the country out of economic recession.
Team Leader of USAID Bee Keeping Pollination Project, David Musa, who spoke on behalf of the agency in Abuja yesterday, said the second quarter report of National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which indicated that Nigeria was out of recession was a welcome development.
He, however, advised the government to create an open market platform, especially for bee farmers across the country.
According to Musa who is also the National Technical Expert, Inter-ministerial Committee on Honey Production, Bee Health & Pollination Services, this shows that there is more potential for productivity, value addition and integration between the private and public sector.
The leader appealed to the federal government to open up and strengthen the ease of doing business to involve more private sector investment to sustain the recession exit.
His words: “The report by the National Bureau of Statistics has credibility because farmers especially bee farmers are now selling more and making more profit.
“We are happy for this but the government must strengthen the ease of doing business, public policies, help the private sector to deliver wide impact to sustain the exit”.
Impact Will Not Be Felt Soon
– NBS
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Dr Yemi Kale, has said that the effect of Nigeria coming out of recession will not be immediately felt by the people.
Kale, the Statistician-General of the Federation, made the statement in Abuja, yesterday at a news conference.
“There is a different stage Nigeria must go through before the masses will feel the effects of going out of recession. Out of recession is the first step which is very important before the country can talk of economic recovery which is going back to where Nigeria was before the recession. Recession is just a technical word; we are comparing 2017 and 2016”, he said.
Kale attributed the reason why Nigerians are not feeling the real impact of the positive economic growth rate on their lives to the structure of the economy which was still largely driven by oil.
He said, “Recession is not about the price of your goods, not whether unemployment is going up or down, not whether you have quality education. It’s purely your gross domestic product.
“Your outputs of goods and services in the economy are going down and the Gross Domestic Products (GDP) is an accumulation of 46 different economic activities in Nigeria and the overall number. Whether positive or negative, it will determine whether you are in recession or out of recession.
“Now, within those 46 activities, some sectors will do very well and will be positive, some will do badly, some will do worse and some will stay the same way they are”.
Kale said the important thing for the country was to maintain the situation so that Nigeria would not go back to recession.
According to him, the country must not relax because the GDP is still on the negative side, even as he added that coming out of recession was not about quality but the quantum of growth. “There is growth but there is a problem with the distribution across the country”.
In response to a question that the exit from recession was a political gimmick, the NBS boss said GDP report which showed that Nigeria exited recession in the second quarter was not politically motivated.
“It is not political because it is the same bureau that gave other negative data. Things have improved but we are not there yet, it is only food prices that are still high”.
According to him, the bureau is an agency of government that has the independence to carry out survey and publish its findings based on international best practices.
He continued: “The fact that the NBS can boldly say, when the Statistician-General is up for renewal, that the economy is in recession and inflation has gone up to 17 per cent, speaks a lot about the integrity of the bureau.
“So, in terms of bureau doctoring numbers for politicians, I don’t think anyone can make that claim and NBS can never be political. We don’t do it”.
The bureau had on September 5 announced that Nigeria was out of economic recession.
It stated that the nation’s GDP grew by 0.55 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms in the quarter, indicating the emergence of the economy from recession.
The bureau stated that the figure indicated the economy was out of recession after five consecutive quarters of contraction since the first quarter of 2016.
An economy is said to be in recession after contracting for two consecutive quarters. The Nigerian economy slipped into recession in the second quarter of 2016.
The bureau, however, stated that the growth recorded in quarter was 2.04 per cent higher than the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2016 (–1.49 per cent).
It stated that it was higher by 1.46 per cent points from rate recorded in the preceding quarter, (revised to –0.91 per cent from – 0.52 per cent).
MAN Contributed Immensely To GDP Growth – President
Meanwhile, the president of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Dr. Frank Udemba, has said members of the association contributed greatly to the positive growth of the country’s GDP as announced by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Ufemba who stated this yesterday, while announcing the association’s 45th Annual General Meeting, noted that the Central Bank of Nigeria’s policy announced on February 21, 2017 accelerated MAN’s contributions in pulling Nigeria out of economic recession.
He said, “MAN believes that the Nigerian Economic Recovery and Growth Plan in conjunction with the private sector did the wonders in pulling the ailing economy out of recession. If the CBN policies are improved upon and sustained, we would do better in terms of growth in GDP.
“It may be true to say that economic growth rate of 0.55 percent is good. The question remains, is this growth real, and sustainable? The impact of positive improvement like this should ideally be felt by all classes of citizens in our country before one can boldly assert that growth experience is inclusive”.
The 45th AGM with the theme “Recovery and Growth of the Nigerian Economy,” would be having the former President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Mr. Benjamin William Mkapa as the special guest of honour.
The president however pointed out that the growth rate is a positive development and that the Nigerian economy has summarily exited recession in the second quarter of 2017, after five consecutive quarters of contraction.
Udemba said, “Our choice of the speaker was based on his experience in managing an economy that experienced serious economic challenges, like ours”.
Learning from Tanzania experience, Udemba pointed out that prior to Mkapa assumption of office in 1995, Tanzania economy was state-controlled, but by 2005 when he completed his tenure, Tanzania economy moved from command economy to a market economy.
“We believe that the valuable experience he will share with us will further enrich our macro-economic policy thrust”.
Maritime Stakeholders Want NBS Rating To Reflect On Port Activities
Stakeholders in the nation’s maritime sector have asked the federal government to ensure that the nation’s exit from recession is felt with activities at the seaport.
This appeal was made by stakeholders who spoke with our correspondent against the back drop of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) declaration that the country officially exited recession.
Speaking to LEADERSHIP, the National president, National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Lucky Awimero, bemoaned the decrease in the volume of cargo imported into the country owing to the unfavourable foreign exchange regime of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
He said that as far as the maritime industry is concerned, nothing has changed.
His words: “The volume of cargo has been decreasing since the exchange rate crashed. These are all political figures. How many cargoes do you have in the ports when the bulk of the cargoes have been diverted to neighbouring countries due to inclement cargo clearance procedure? We don’t want to hear figures; let Nigerians have food on their table, employment should be increased and the economy should be re-jigged.
“As far as the maritime industry is concerned, nothing is working. It is not about increased cargo volume in the last quarter but addressing certain economic issues which are yet to be addressed”.
Awimero called on government to rejig its cabinet and bring experts to drive the economy.
In his opinion, the coordinator of Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders Importers and Exporters Coalition, Osita Chukwu, said until importers are able to import through a much lower foreign exchange, nothing has changed.
He said, “As far as I am concerned, there is nothing like the country being out of recession. The port is still dry, activities are still at their lowest ebb.
“Where did they (NBS) get the figure from? Nigerians are suffering; the rate of unemployment is increasing daily; people are finding it difficult to feed. Therefore, all talks of exiting recession exist in the theoretical realm”.
Also, a former president of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Eugene Nweke, described the statistics as office figures that is not in tandem with present realities.
“If you relate it with the realities on the ground, there is a paradigm shift; it does not correlate at all. Every country must be involved in economic indices and projections trying to show efforts in revamping the economy”, he told our correspondent.
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