An economist, Mr Odilim
Enwegbara, has urged the Federal Government to boost infrastructure in the country to engender investments that would accrue from the just-concluded World Economic Forum on Africa.
Enwegbara told newsmen in Abuja that critical infrastructure needed to attract desired investments were adequate power, water and roads.
“We must construct roads so that goods and services will move and circulate faster and cheaper. This, no doubt, will attract investors.
“The Federal Government may not necessarily be able to develop the infrastructure nationwide but we can select some coastal areas like Lagos, Akwa Ibom and Rivers to develop.
“China, in 1978, took some coastal areas and developed the infrastructure around those locations into world class proportions.
“Afterwards, every Chinese that was living in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea relocated his business back to China,’’ he said.
Enwegbara said that putting the right policies that would boost industrial development and ensure the security of people would also enhance economic growth in the country.
He said that the cost of doing business in Nigeria was high, adding that, “even when people want to borrow money from the banks, the interest on loan is also very high.”
“Nigeria’s interest rate is highest among emerging countries in the world. High interest rate is bad for the economy because it puts too much pressure on the economy,” he said.
According to him, Nigeria’s monetary policy is run by bankers, and we all know that the main beneficiaries of high interest rate are the banks.
Enwegbara urged the government to push interest rate to a single digit as further incentive for increased investment in the country.
He also called on the government to discourage the importation of goods, which local manufacturers were producing or were capable of producing.
He expressed support for devaluation of the Naira, saying that it would make imported goods more expensive and less attractive, thereby shifting demand in favour of local products.
The economist condemned the privatisation of the power sector in the country, stating that the best economies in the world had their governments in charge of such critical sector.
“ The best economies such as China and the U.S, have their governments in charge of their power sector because it is the engine box of any economy.
“ Nigeria’s government must build power; we cannot hand over power generation entirely to the private sector.
“ If we allow the private sector to control the entire power sector, it will not be in the good interest of the country.
“ What government should have done is to build massive power plants and build transmission grids and hand them over to the private sector for maintenance,’’ he said.
Enwegbara also called on Africans to lend a hand to the continent’s development rather than its current over reliance on Foreign Direct Investments.
“Africans need to look inward; the only way we can develop is if we Africans decide to do so ourselves without relying heavily on FDIs.
“We developed China; Nigerians in the Diaspora scattered all over the world go to China to invest. There are many Nigerians and Africans with huge industries in China.