Oil Price Fall: Nigerians Urged To Look Inwards

Nigerians have been
urged to  see the current economic challenges facing the country as a result of the drop in the price of oil crude as an opportunity to look inwards.
Chief Executive Officer of Nextnomics, Dr. Temitope Oshikoya said this in a speech he delivered at the 2016 Eonomic Summit of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Victory Chapel, Lagos recently Titled: “Thriving in a Period of Economic Uncertainity”.
While taking a holistic look at the country’s economic situation, Oshikoya warned against those he described as prophets of gloom and doom.
“We should beware of the merchants of fear that are propagating what I will call avalanche of pessimism”, he said.
Acknowledging the economic challenges facing the country, he counselled that such development should be used as an opportunity to capitalise on especially in the oil and non-oil revenue sectors.
Speaking further he said if the country’s GDP was divided into two the oil GDP, essentially in dollar terms would be only about $50 billion and the non-oil would be about $450 billion.
Commenting on the exchange rate situation, he said what needed to be done was to stop policy somersault that the country has had for too long.
In his presentation, the Executive Chairman of the Federal   Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr Babatunde Fowler highlighted the need for Nigerians to be tax compliant.
Represented by his Special Adviser, Femi Edgal, also urged Nigerians to trust the present administration.
“This government has shown a commitment to transparency and a commitment to better use of public money for infrastructure and for public good.
Also speaking, the chairman, Lagos State Board of Inland Revenue, Mr Folarin Ogunsanwo described tax as a social contract between the populace who are the tax payers as well as the government that put effort to attend to their needs through the provision of social infrastructure, educational facilities amongst others.