Financial experts have urged the Federal Government to address domestic production and food insecurity challenges in order to contain the country’s rising inflation.
They stated this in separate interviews with the Newsmen in Lagos on Friday.
Mr. Sunny Nwosu, the founder of the Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria, stated that the government should address food insecurity, which is fueling inflation.
“The Federal Government should address food insecurity by building more strategic grain reserves and fixing the moribund ones in the country.
“This will ensure that more food produced will be absorbed into our national silos to ensure food self-sufficiency,” he said.
Nwosu noted that the Federal Government needed to enhance the security situation in many farming communities.
“Addressing many of the communal crises is imperative to encourage more people to return to farms.
“This will improve our food output and resolve the food-driven inflation,” Nwosu said.
Also speaking, Dr. Uju Ogubunka, former Executive Secretary, of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), said that dealing with the headwinds impeding production would curb inflation.
“Issues such as uninterrupted electricity supply should be made more available for local manufacturers to ensure they operate at an optimal level.
“This will enable them to produce substituted imported commodities and enhance their domestic capacity in the process,” Ogubunka said.
He said that the Federal Government should put an end to the unavailability of refined petroleum products because it was responsible for the inflationary rise.
“The sudden increase in the price of petrol and its associated product is driving the cost of transportation in recent times which is passed down to the final consumer through increases of goods and services,” Ogubunka said.
Mr. Boniface Okezie, the President of the Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, said the apex bank should unify the foreign exchange market.
“The current multiple foreign exchange rate operated in Nigeria is quite detrimental to genuine businesses.
“The multiple windows give room for arbitrage in the market and deprive businesses the ability to access the foreign exchange genuinely,” Okezie said.
He noted that the apex bank’s ways and means of advances in the economy contributed to the increase in the inflation rate.
“About N20 trillion have been injected to fund the Federal Government deficit finances over the years and this is detrimental to the economy because the apex bank has surpassed its expected threshold,” Okezie stated.
Newsmen reports that Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 21.82 percent in January from 21.34 percent in December.
However, the inflation rate dropped for the first time in 11 months in December but it picked up again in January.
Food-price inflation, which accounts for agricultural products, increased to 24.32 percent in January from 23.75 percent in December.
