By James Emejo
The Managing Director/Chief Executive, Dignity Finance and Investmemt Limited, Dr. Chijioke Ekechukwu, has called on the federal government to as a matter of urgency, improve all sector of the economy, adding that, “if the sectors of the economy are not doing well, of course, the economy itself will not do well”.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with THISDAY, he stressed that it is only when the sectors of the economy are doing well that the economy could be adjudged as performing.
“But the problem that we see today is that we are not seeing any improvement in all these sectors of the economy,” he said.
He also said it will be difficult for the government to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the country when the, “local investors cannot even do business in the country.”
According to the former Director General, Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), there are presently too many problems confronting businesses in the country, which the government had continued to pay deaf ears to.
Ekechukwu, particularly pointed out that the menace of multiple taxation at both the federal and states levels remained a major source of concern to investors especially start-ups.
He said: “When a new business starts and there are too many taxes coming on their heads, of course, you don’t expect that business to grow.
“Many times, taxes or levies we’ve never heard about will be imposed on businesses that are just starting today or tomorrow.”
He pointed out that though business opportunities abound for Nigerians, but the problems working against them are numerous and depressing including the costs.
“The cost of doing business is also there because you cannot do business where there’s no steady and affordable electricity,” he added.
According to the Dignity Finance MD, the way forward for the economy is for the government to walk the talk and sincerely begin to address identified constraints in the business environment.
He said: “So what we need to do as a country is not to keep crying over the same things we kept on crying for more than 50 years ago.
“If we have cried over certain things, we expect that after sometime, we solve those issues.
“If we have been solving the problems of Nigeria in the last 30 years, today we won’t be talking about electricity because they are even beyond 30 years.”
According to him:”Today, we won’t be talking about poor educational facilities or poor health facilities because as they come, we should be solving them.
“But the problem that we see today is that we are not seeing any improvement in all these sectors of the economy and if the sectors of the economy are not doing well, of course, the economy itself will not do well.
“So, it is only when the sectors of the economy are doing well that you can say your economy is doing well because there will be certain ancillary benefits coming from these sectors doing well and government will be the institution to enjoy from the wellbeing of these various sectors.”
He said: “A team is as strong as its weakest link; let us assume that the federal government is the chain that we have, if the sectors of the economy are weak, there’s no way the government can be strong.
“Untill the various sectors of the economy are strong, that is when we expect that we are going to have a strong economy.
“But I can tell you also that let people who are qualified for certain places be placed in those places and let us remove all kinds of tribalism or nepotism and focus on people who are qualified to take over positions and we will be able to build our country.”
