The Senator representing Lagos West Senatorial District, Senator Solomon Adeola (APC) has called for urgent and persistent measures to to address the now officially acknowledged recession that Nigerian economy has slipped into.
The Senator who is the vice chairman of Senate Committee on Communications said that it is worrisome that government at all levels are not treating the issue of recession with the urgency it requires to ensure that its duration is not unduly prolonged with untold suffering and even deaths of majority of Nigerians.
While acknowledging that the recession at this time is not peculiar to Nigeria, Senator Adeola said that the difference here is that not much is being done to assure the people that government is on top of the situation in terms of marshaling out implementable policies to address the plight of groups that are now hit by the recession.
“I must say that one is yet to see any urgency in providing palliatives for the poor and collapsing industries and other corporate bodies leading to serious job losses and a growing sense of despair among the general population. Experience in the past shows that one of the most reliable ways to tackle recession is to spend money on productive sector as well as welfarist spending to put money in the pockets of the poor” the senator asserted.
The Senator regretted that so far, the Economic Team of the Government particularly the Finance and Budget and Planning Ministers and the Director General of Budget Office appeared lackadaisical in their approach to what is ordinarily an economic emergency, adding that he would have expected the team to be dishing out policy options and direction in forms of palliative for the poor, bailout/loans for distressed organizations like Innosson Motors and airlines in dire need.
“As we confront the unpalatable recession one is worried to see ministers of government go about in convoys of SUVs with a horde of assistants and security aides as if the recession is just a word that has no effect on their lives and ways of doing things while we elected representatives are daily confronted by helpless constituents who look up to us for solutions to their economic challenges. This period calls for austere lifestyles and cutting of recurrent expenditure of government at all levels to free funds for interventionist palliatives for the people and organizations that provide jobs for the people as well as diversification of the revenue base of the government.” he further stated.
Adeola lamented that with the World Bank and other international development agencies putting the number of the poor at about 70 million when dollar exchange for N150 before the recession, the number of those living below poverty line may now be approaching over 100million, adding that the Economic Team must realize that an enormous responsibility rests on their shoulders to provide palliatives and rescue millions from extreme poverty beyond the interventions of government that predates the recession.
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