Nume Ekeghe
The Chief Consultant, B. Adedipe Associates Limited (BAA Consult), Dr. ‘Biodun Adedipe has stressed the need for increased patronage of goods and services made in Nigeria in order to stimulate economic activities and attain sustainable growth.
Adedipe, who said this thursday at the “Half Year 2017 Economic Review,” organised by members of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN), in Lagos, stated that in terms of production, Nigeria should copy the examples of China and India, especially the latter, that promotes ‘Made-in-India’.
Also, on the consumption, the economist said Nigerian economic agents (governments, corporates and individuals) should buy goods ‘Made-in-Nigeria.’
By adopting such economic policy, Adedipe held the view that trade would thrive on internal activities, while the country would engage in international trade to complement its earnings.
He noted that any country that does not produce a significant proportion of what it consumes would always be at the mercy of those countries that are producing the goods and services.
An estimated population of 190.88 million as at 1st July 2017 (7th largest in the world, with potential to become 3rd by 2050) and with a huge appetite for consumption of just about anything in the market for any tradable commodity.
“My take on the episodic economic troubles Nigeria falls into is simply that: We produce what we don’t consume (natural resources that we harvest and export). We consume what we don’t produce – largely import dependent for all conceivable things.
“The salvation for the Nigerian economy, beyond engendering recovery from the abating recession, is found in promoting aggressively the ‘Made-in-Nigeria’ campaign. “In Nigeria, most of the things that catch our fancy, we actually don’t produce them. We therefore end up creating jobs offshore,” he added.
Adedipe supported the “unorthodox” monetary policy stance of the Central Bank of Nigeria, saying it should continue until the economy achieves stability.
“The issue is using your orthodox policy for as long as your financial system is at risk, once you are outside of the risk region, that is, where your economy is no longer fragile, you abandon it and you turn to orthodox management
“In my latest encounter with CBN, they said no we haven’t gotten to a comfortable level yet. But I understand that because they know that if government is spending to expand the economy, that’s expansionary fiscal operation and that would trigger interest rate and so they recognise that even if they drop interest rate it will more or less demoralise the situation.”
