Abuja – The House of Representatives yesterday resolved to constitute a Committee next week that will meet with the Senate in view of in inviting the President, Mr. Muhammadu Buhari to address the joint session of the National Assembly in proferring solution to the way out of recession.
This was sequence to the Motion moved on the floor of the House by Hon. Mukaila Olayiwola Kazzim (Ogun State), with various speakers speaking in favour of the motion.
Hon. Mukaila Kazzim who informed the House that due to the crash of crude oil prices from over $120 per barrel in the last quarter of 2014 to about $45 presently, Nigeria has been witnessing a dramatic reduction in oil earnings, which has impacted negatively on revenues available to finance expenditure, as a result, the foreign reserves had been depleted to bridge the gap.
“The loss of confidence in the nation’s economy has led to increase in the rate of outflow of businesses worth more than four trillion Naira following declining oil revenues and the devaluation of the Naira”.
Hon. Kazzim who expressed concerns over the unprecedented level of youth unemployment of about 70% which has continued to grow unabated as businesses keep folding up, also revealed that the bank lending rate was now between 25-30% per annum and with other hidden charges that discourage borrowing.
“The bank lending rate of between 25-30% per annum and other hidden charges are discouraging borrowers, especially the Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) and is also counterproductive for meaningful economic growth”
” The economic downturn that is looming in the country which was predicted in 2014 by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) based on the aforementioned events, coupled with declining foreign reserves and rising external debts which, according to the Debt Management Office (DMO) now hovers around $10bn from $3.5bn nine years ago”
Speaking further, Kazzim said that industries such as the steel rolling mills, paper mills, aviation and textile industries etc. that were supposed to provide cushion for the aforementioned policies and conserve foreign exchange have become moribund.
He later urged the Federal Government to take steps to resuscitate the comatose government owned industries which will generate employment, provide raw materials for local producers and preserve scarce foreign exchange as well as develop policies that will be attractive to private investment for the commercial exploration of solid minerals while also paying attention to non-oil sector ventures such as tourism, automobile industry, information technology etc. in order to bring about the diversification of the nation’s economy.
Responding to the motion when the Speaker, Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara Called for reactions from members of the House, Hon S.J Yusuf (Kogi State) said that recession didn’t just happened today, but for the lack of preparedness on part of the country.
“It is a seed sew in the past and decision today. If we have saved yesterday, we would have had money today, but at that time nobody saw what will happen today and the decision to refuse to sell forex for over four months led to the crippling of the economy”.
In his contribution to the debate, Hon. Lawal (Yobe State) said that for Nigeria to come out of the recession, all hands must be on deck as Nigeria was not the only country that had experienced the recession and that those countries who experienced it, have today come out of it.
He later proffered solution, which he itemised as follows : 1. Nigeria to diversify its economy. 2. Agriculture must be used as alternative to oil. 3. PIB should be passed into law to reduce corruption in the oil sector. 3. The bombing should be stopped. 4. The Government should borrow money that will be injected into the system. 5. Government should revamp all the ailing industries that have gone moribund. 6. Government should pay attention to Entrepreneurship. 7. Nigeria must become a manufacturing country.
