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16 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2022<br />
On Buhari, Sanwo-Olu’s economic prescriptions<br />
By ADEWALE KUPOLUYI<br />
THE 2022 Lagos International Trade Fair<br />
provided another opportunity to<br />
examine the nation's economy, as key players<br />
in the public and private sectors identified<br />
major challenges and proposed solutions for<br />
how things can improve. For the Nigerian<br />
President, Muhammadu Buhari the trade fair<br />
was the right time to showcase the nation’s<br />
capacity to produce to global standards and<br />
to export. The President, who made this known<br />
at the opening ceremony, at the Tafawa Balewa<br />
Square, Lagos, which was the 36th in<br />
succession, was put together by the Lagos<br />
Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI.<br />
The President, who was represented at the<br />
occasion by the Minister of Industry, Trade,<br />
and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, said<br />
that the essence of trade was to connect people<br />
and businesses to create value. He said that<br />
"through increased trade, our goals of job<br />
creation, gross domestic product growth,<br />
increased foreign exchange earnings, and<br />
reduced insecurity are actualized. "<br />
The development of export trade takes this a<br />
step further and helps our nation reach its<br />
economic diversification goals, he said. Buhari<br />
said Nigeria had signed and ratified the<br />
agreement establishing the African<br />
Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, to boost<br />
intra-African trade and integrate the<br />
continent's market, which consists of 1.3 billion<br />
consumers, He said the country’s international<br />
trade was currently doing well, with a trade<br />
surplus in excess of N3.2 trillion. The president<br />
informed us that the public sector would<br />
continue to drive investment into<br />
infrastructural development, encourage access<br />
to low-cost financing, and provide fiscal<br />
incentives to companies wishing to<br />
manufacture products for sale. These<br />
incentives include three- to five-year tax<br />
holidays for enterprises as pioneer industries;<br />
tax-free operations, and capital allowances for<br />
agriculture, manufacturing, and engineering<br />
within the free trade zones.<br />
Furthermore, the Federal Government has<br />
taken much-needed steps to improve the<br />
trading environment through the creation of<br />
special economic zones, with 17 operational<br />
special economic zones, SEZs, of which 14<br />
are general economic zones that support<br />
export processing, large-scale manufacturing,<br />
tourism, food processing, and oil and gasrelated<br />
activities, among others. The Federal<br />
Government has also provided funding<br />
support through the Central Bank of Nigeria,<br />
CBN, and the Bank of Industry, BOI.<br />
Specifically, the CBN has initiated<br />
programmes to encourage domestic<br />
production and exports, some of which include<br />
the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, FGN<br />
Special Intervention Fund for Micro, Small,<br />
and Medium Enterprises, MSMEs and the<br />
N150 billion<br />
Targeted Credit Facility. The Federal<br />
Government distributed a total of N785 billion<br />
through BOI and also provided fiscal<br />
incentives to businesses across multiple sectors<br />
through the Federal Ministry of Finance,<br />
Budget, and National Planning for the Pay-As-<br />
You-Earn, PAYE, and Company Income Tax,<br />
CIT, taxes, which are among the lowest in the<br />
world, while small businesses with an annual<br />
turnover of less than N25 million are exempt<br />
from Company Income Tax.A lower company<br />
income tax rate of 20 percent is also provided<br />
for companies whose yearly turnover is<br />
between N25 million and N100 million, the<br />
president said.<br />
Buhari also told the audience that the<br />
Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and<br />
Investment was reviewing and updating the<br />
country's National Trade Policy in order to<br />
firmly establish Nigeria as a worldwide<br />
trading hub and a regional leader, and that<br />
the policy seeks to maximise economic output,<br />
expand infrastructural development, promote<br />
business growth, industrialization, and<br />
entrepreneurship, and he called for<br />
collaboration among relevant parties to<br />
increase trade in Nigeria. Speaking at the<br />
occasion, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide<br />
Sanwo-Olu, applauded the efforts of the<br />
leadership of the LCCI in bringing together its<br />
members, who he said remain the fulcrum of<br />
business in Nigeria. "In Nigeria, this sector is<br />
the heartbeat of our industrial and economic<br />
development, and in Lagos State, MSMEs<br />
have significantly contributed to employment<br />
With a population of over<br />
22 million, Lagos is the fifth<br />
fastest growing city in the<br />
world, which is why it is an<br />
investor's delight<br />
creation, value addition, income generation,<br />
and appreciable poverty reduction.<br />
Therefore, there is no doubt in my mind that<br />
MSMEs are crucial to our economic growth<br />
and stability in achieving the Sustainable<br />
Development Goals, particularly in the<br />
promotion of creativity and decent work for<br />
all. As a government, our administration’s<br />
priority is the business sector, with a particular<br />
focus on MSMEs. With a population of over<br />
22 million, Lagos is the fifth fastest growing<br />
city in the world, which is why it is an investor's<br />
delight. Lagos accounts for over 25 percent of<br />
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the national gross domestic product (GDP), and<br />
65 percent of Nigeria’s industrial and commercial<br />
activities.<br />
"I humbly request that you, LCCI, continue<br />
to initiate and develop more opportunities for<br />
assisting businesses, particularly the young<br />
corps of entrepreneurs who have great<br />
potentials for rewriting our state's business<br />
history and revitalising Nigeria's economic<br />
fortune. Undoubtedly, our continued<br />
partnership cannot, but, yield bountiful returns.<br />
Let me further assure you that we shall not rest<br />
on our oars until business prosperity is<br />
guaranteed. This is because our<br />
administration is not oblivious of the fact that<br />
for us to achieve our dream of becoming<br />
Africa’s model megacity by 2025, we must<br />
continue to improve our business climate so<br />
as to attract more private sector investments,<br />
create jobs and increase productivity", Sanwo-<br />
Olu said.<br />
The President of LCCI, Asiwaju (Dr.) Michael<br />
Olawale-Cole affirmed that the current edition<br />
of the trade fair underscored the importance<br />
of relationships and networking among<br />
businesses for the purposes of wealth creation<br />
as it underlines the value of interactions<br />
between producers, service providers, and endusers.<br />
Olawale-Cole stated that economic<br />
conditions had been challenging even as the<br />
economy sustains recovery from the<br />
coronavirus disease, COVID-19, pandemic,<br />
navigating through shocks from the ongoing<br />
Russia-Ukraine war and climate change in the<br />
form of devastating floods across the country,<br />
as he charged investors to continue to<br />
demonstrate resilience and determination to<br />
forge ahead despite challenges.<br />
Continues online:www.vanguardngr.com<br />
•Dr. Kupoluyi, a social analyst, wrote from<br />
the Federal University of Agriculture,<br />
Abeokuta, FUNAAB, Ogun State<br />
Arise TV presidential town hall meeting and the trophy<br />
By MOHAMMED<br />
DANBATTA<br />
AS the dust begins to settle on<br />
the Arise TV Presidential<br />
town hall meeting, political<br />
observers and Nigerians who<br />
followed the programme<br />
dispassionately have been<br />
unanimous in awarding Governor<br />
Ifeanyi Okowa the highest<br />
mark.The received opinion is that<br />
Okowa who is the vice presidential<br />
candidate of the Peoples<br />
Democratic Party, PDP, standing in<br />
for Atiku Abubakar, the PDP<br />
presidential candidate, showed<br />
superior intelligence, leadership<br />
composure and demonstrated a<br />
far more pragmatic approach to<br />
solving the many problems of<br />
insecurity, economic downturn,<br />
disunity, and others confronting<br />
the nation.<br />
The town hall meeting was<br />
organised in concert with the<br />
Centre for Democracy and<br />
Development, CDD, and it turned<br />
out to be the first major encounter<br />
between the major contenders in<br />
the 2023 presidential election and<br />
the public. The candidate of the<br />
All Progressives Congress, APC,<br />
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was<br />
absent and did not have any<br />
representation. This did not sit well<br />
with many Nigerians, who voiced<br />
their concern that Tinubu has<br />
made himself too evasive in a<br />
manner unbecoming of a man who<br />
wants to lead the nation in the 21st<br />
century.<br />
Early dissent from the audience,<br />
including from one or two<br />
presidential candidates present in<br />
the hall, to the effect that Okowa<br />
representing Atiku was an<br />
anomaly, was smartly doused by<br />
Okowa himself. He did not fret.<br />
He showed composure while<br />
making his explanation. He said<br />
he read the invitation letter to<br />
Atiku who was overseas for<br />
another important engagement.<br />
Furthermore, he claimed that<br />
there was no mention of a vice<br />
presidential candidate standing in<br />
for the presidential candidate in<br />
the letter. Besides, he took further<br />
steps by calling the organisers on<br />
the possibility that Atiku may not<br />
be back in the country at the time<br />
the programme was scheduled to<br />
kick off.<br />
On this, he got the approval of<br />
the organisers to stand in for his<br />
boss. He stated that the presidency<br />
is one and that the vice president<br />
must and should be as fit and<br />
capable as the president because,<br />
according to the constitution, the<br />
president may need to transmit<br />
power to the vice president at some<br />
point in time, thus the overriding<br />
need for the vice presidential<br />
candidate to be such a person who<br />
can competently stand in for the<br />
presidential candidate. He made<br />
the point very clear: Neither Atiku<br />
nor himself breached any law or<br />
rule as it was not specified in the<br />
invitation letter that only the<br />
presidential candidate should be<br />
present at the meeting. His<br />
explanation thawed the tension<br />
inside the hall.<br />
But this ought not to even be an<br />
issue. Atiku talks, speaks and has<br />
been engaging various focus<br />
groups, meeting with the media for<br />
interviews, both local and foreign.<br />
He would have been physically<br />
present if it hadn't been for his<br />
earlier scheduled overseas<br />
engagement. Back to Okowa’s<br />
performance. The PDP vice<br />
presidential candidate showed a<br />
better grasp of how to turn around<br />
the national economy using the<br />
model he created in Delta as<br />
governor. He emphasised<br />
capacity building and skill<br />
acquisition not just for the youth<br />
but also for the women. He said<br />
training of the youths and women<br />
must have two critical<br />
components: training of the mind<br />
and training of the hands.<br />
Furthermore, he showed a link<br />
between an untrained, booming<br />
population and insecurity.<br />
When the mind is trained and<br />
liberated, it will help check<br />
population explosion, and this will<br />
directly address the challenge of<br />
out-of-school children, parents<br />
having children they cannot take<br />
care of. He argued that a liberated<br />
mind and a skilled hand that are<br />
well-equipped cannot be easily<br />
recruited into gangsterism. He was<br />
not merely grandstanding. He was<br />
not just being politically flippant<br />
to score cheap points or to impress.<br />
He showed that what he was<br />
proposing for Nigeria as a whole<br />
was something he had<br />
accomplished in Delta State.<br />
Okowa’s Delta, one of the top three<br />
oil-bearing states, was once a<br />
theatre of agitations and upheavals<br />
When the mind is<br />
trained and liberated, it<br />
will help check<br />
population explosion, and<br />
this will directly address<br />
the challenge of out-ofschool<br />
children, parents<br />
having children they<br />
cannot take care of<br />
that forced oil companies in the<br />
creeks to stop production with<br />
frequent declarations of force<br />
majeure. Militancy was high as the<br />
youths in the oil-bearing<br />
communities raged against oil<br />
companies for the despoliation of<br />
their environment and leaving<br />
them in poverty and their<br />
communities undeveloped. But<br />
Okowa quenched the fire of<br />
agitation and the sweltering rage<br />
of militancy.<br />
The formula, according to him,<br />
was simple. He brought<br />
development to the people in the<br />
creeks, actively engaged the youths<br />
with skills and resources, and<br />
brought entrepreneurship and<br />
infrastructure to them in a manner<br />
they never imagined. To his credit,<br />
many of the communities where<br />
militancy was rife now have roads<br />
and bridges linking them for<br />
effective movement of goods,<br />
services, and personnel. They have<br />
schools, skill acquisition centres,<br />
healthcare facilities, and other<br />
infrastructure that gives them a<br />
sense of belonging. He argued that<br />
with the right approach to<br />
development, issues of poverty,<br />
out-of-school children, food<br />
insecurity, and national disunity,<br />
among others, would be addressed.<br />
He punctured the idea always<br />
bandied about by one of the<br />
candidates that saving money was<br />
one of his achievements while in<br />
office as governor. Okowa’s<br />
counterpoint to this was that you<br />
do not emphasise saving money<br />
over development. Atiku’s brand<br />
of leadership, he affirms, is such<br />
that he will use the money to build<br />
infrastructure, including<br />
education, transport, and health<br />
infrastructure, that would<br />
engender the creation of jobs and<br />
wealth, rather than keeping the<br />
money in the bank, where it will<br />
suffer depreciation.<br />
Why save money in the bank<br />
when you don’t have potable water,<br />
steady electricity, good roads,<br />
growing youth unemployment,<br />
growing army of children out of<br />
school, efficient healthcare system<br />
and functional education sector, he<br />
wondered. To further situate why<br />
the PDP and Atiku should be<br />
trusted to deliver the country from<br />
the mess created by the ruling<br />
APC, he reminded Nigerians how<br />
the PDP inherited from the military<br />
a broken nation with a humongous<br />
debt profile, decrepit<br />
infrastructure, a massively<br />
depleted external reserve, and a<br />
pariah nation where no foreign<br />
investor was willing to invest. He<br />
recalled how the Obasanjo-Atiku<br />
Presidency turned things around:<br />
Got Nigeria out of debt overhang,<br />
rejigged the nation’s<br />
infrastructure, revamped<br />
healthcare and education,<br />
attracted foreign direct<br />
investments, and moved Nigeria’s<br />
economy to the topmost floor on<br />
the continent. He referenced a<br />
telecom revolution wrought by the<br />
Atiku Abubakar-led National<br />
Economic Council, a revolution<br />
that did not only create direct and<br />
indirect jobs, but also became a<br />
major public relations tool for<br />
Nigeria in the global arena.<br />
Okowa presented a more feasible<br />
and pragmatic approach to<br />
tackling insecurity.<br />
He listed the challenges as<br />
including a shortage of<br />
manpower, under-equipment of<br />
manpower, and the influx of illegal<br />
firearms into the country. For an<br />
effective solution, he prescribes the<br />
deployment of modern<br />
communication technology for<br />
both surveillance and intelligence<br />
gathering and sharing, the<br />
recruitment of more personnel<br />
into the various security agencies,<br />
the training and adequate<br />
resourcing of "men on the boot"<br />
(persons on the frontline), the<br />
acquisition of modern weapons,<br />
effective liaison with the<br />
international community,<br />
especially contiguous nations to<br />
Nigeria, and closer monitoring of<br />
our borders.““Over all, Okowa<br />
represented Atiku and his party<br />
very well. His superlative<br />
performance could easily be<br />
measured by his comportment in<br />
the face of needless provocation,<br />
his clear roadmaps on<br />
development, and the clarity of his<br />
logical answers to questions on the<br />
economy, security, and other<br />
issues.Without any doubt, Okowa<br />
takes the trophy in the first major<br />
interaction with the candidates.<br />
He was brutally honest and<br />
practical, and did not seek to<br />
impress or play to the gallery. A<br />
true hallmark of a good leader.<br />
* Danbatta, a social commentator,<br />
wrote from Kano<br />
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