‘Greed, poor governance, corruption brought us where we are today’

Abuja – An ecomomics expert, Prof. Uka Ezenwe, has advised the Federal Government to take right fiscal and monetary measures to recover the economy from recession. Ezenwe said in Abuja on Thursday, that such measures would help the country out of the economic crisis. He said that recession was not a new thing in economic history but could lead to depression if not managed appropriately. The economist said that it could be managed through fiscal measures such as budgetary measures, tax incentives and subsidy. “Monetary level, through the manipulation of interest rate, exchange rate, the government can minimise the negative impact of recession through these measures. “Through these monetary measures, the country can eliminate and revert recession,’’ he said. According to him, right policies and measures are necessary to revive the economy. He said that countries didn’t come out of recession in two or three months, adding that even when they put in place certain measures, the measures would take certain time to manifest. “It is a process, it not an event, it is like when somebody becomes pregnant, it will take like three months or more for the pregnancy to start coming out. “It will take some time before you start seeing the results of your investment in the economy. “It is the result of your investment in the economy that will affect demand and supply; which will also affect the amount of goods and services in the market. “It is necessary you take right measures, gradually recession will disappear in the country,’’ the economist said. However, he expressed optimism that the country would soon come out of the economic crisis, noting that Nigeria had a lot of resources. “This county is blessed and God loves us so much; we have everything we need, it is because of greed, poor governance and corruption that we are where we are today.’’ He believe that Nigeria is technically in recession with negative Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate in the first quarter of 2016. The GDP in the first quarter of 2016 was -0.36 from 2.11 in fourth quarter of 2015 and 3.96 in first quarter, 2015. Although, the results of second quarter of 2016 GDP growth rate will determine if Nigeria is in recession from a professional point of view.