By G9ija
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), on behalf of the Organised Private Sector, has congratulated the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on his forthcoming inauguration, urging him to review the ill-conceived policies by the outgoing Administration for immediate gains.
LCCI in a statement signed by its Director General, Dr Chinyere Almona said it hoped that the new administration will focus on issues of immediate and critical importance to the business environment and the overall economy.
Almona noted that the present tenuous and fragile business environment “has been a result of inappropriate and poorly implemented policies and interventions” restating that there are fiscal policy gaps, unsuitable monetary policies and administrative inefficiencies which are inimical to the proper functioning of the economy.
LCCI therefore urged the incoming leadership to review and urgently reversed the ill-conceived policies for immediate gains.
It listed that areas of grave concern include: arbitrage-urging non-unified exchange rates, incidences of market shocks, massive infrastructural deficits, and unsustainable debt burden.
Others, Almona stated are: the recently approved fiscal policy measures which are at variance with the pre-existing but fully agreed-on FPM roadmap 2022 – 2024, again noting that the recent measures run parallel to real sector growth and should be suspended forthwith with a view to being reviewed after due consultations with stakeholders.
However, the Chamber urged the incoming Administration to sustain interventions in select sectors like: agriculture, manufacturing, and export to boost the nation’s foreign exchange earnings capacity.
“We urge the government to keep track of the plans to tackle the menace of oil theft and to boost oil exports” Almona advised.
Similarly, LCCI encouraged the new government to tackle the issue of subsidy removal with “alacrity and with its economic consciousness”, insisting that the decision, must be combined with humaneness for the sake of the most vulnerable.
Almona also called for a deliberate and concerted efforts in tackling insecurity challenges in order to ensure a conducive investment climate.
LCCI DG also admonished government to support sectors with “diminishing contributions to GDP” as well as those whose value chains are domesticated.
“Some of the policies implemented by the outgoing regime might have been well-intentioned, however, implementation was a challenge” Almona said.
Asiwaju Tinubu after his investiture as GCOFR and his Vice, Kashim Shettima as GCON Thursday, is billed to be sworn-in as the President, Commander-in-chief of Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Monday, May 29, 2023.