Awaiting Buhari’s economic blueprint
Since the election, on March 28, of Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s president, hopes have continued to rise that the country may at last be back on the path of steady progress. These hopes have become even more pronounced following the inauguration of the new president last Friday. Analysts have said that President Buhari’s inaugural speech clearly shows a leader who is fully prepared for the job and who knows where he is headed.
As the president settles down to real work, therefore, the organised private sector, made up of investors across industries, with renewed hope, are eagerly awaiting his economic blueprint which would define the policy directions of his administration. This, according to the investors, is important for policy clarity, strategic planning, investment decisions and confidence.
We agree with the investors, and we call on the Buhari administration to do the needful and quickly come up with an economic policy direction so that the long-withheld investments into the Nigerian economy can resume in earnest.
We recall that for the past five months investors have kept their money back from the country due to uncertainties surrounding the country’s general elections. This was as a result of palpable fears that there could be pre- or post-election tensions which could mar investments. Though there has been relative peace since after the elections, investors are yet to make major decisions in the first and the greater part of the second quarter.
Investors are indeed keenly awaiting the Buhari government’s ministerial appointments, decisions on the agriculture, manufacturing, oil and gas and export sectors, power intervention, investment incentives and monetary policy, including the exchange rate, as well as how the new government will handle the cost of doing business in the country which currently ranks 170 out of 189. They are also awaiting policy statements on inflation, interest rate as well as how the new government will handle the automotive policy introduced by the immediate past administration.
Other areas include innovation and technology, power, rail system, port administration, standards, patronage of locally-manufactured goods and key trade issues such as the Common External Tariff (CET) already agreed by the 15 member countries of the Economic Community of West African States, the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between ECOWAS and Europe, Export Expansion Grant Scheme which was suspended two years ago by the immediate past government, among others.
In an earlier editorial (What businesses want from Buhari), BusinessDay had listed the demands of private sector operators from the new government to include: plugging several loopholes slowing down the nation’s growth; diversifying the economy away from oil; tackling the high cost of doing business in the economy, as well as low productivity attributed to macroeconomic, institutional and structural factors, and ensuring a level playing field for all investors across all sectors with regard to import tariffs, funding opportunities and tax incentives. They also asked the Buhari administration not to be in a haste to set aside the programmes of past administrations, but rather look at ways to implement them to the letter and improve on the ones that need improvement.
The private sector has always been very outspoken on the activities of key regulatory agencies such as the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), the Consumer Protection Council, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), among others. The complaints in this area have centred on issues of multiple inspection, multiple taxation and vindictiveness.
We, therefore, urge the new president to quickly look into these issues and come up with economic decisions that will make the country a desired investment destination. As one investor has said, Buhari’s economic policy “will determine where we will put our money”.