ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – The critical role of private sector in the development of Nigeria’s economy took the centre stage at the second edition of Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) chief executive officers roundtable discussions, recently.
Some chief executive officers of quoted companies who were present at the event jointly organized event by the NSE and Bloomberg in Lagos urged the federal government to tackle infrastructural challenges and diversify the economy.
Addressing participants, the chief executive officer of the NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema said, “The consensus from our deliberations here will be articulated in relevant white papers that will be submitted to Nigerian policy makers.”
Also, the chief executive officer and managing director, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya stated that the Nigeria’s GDP has continued to decline because of the over dependence on oil, following the global decline in price, saying for the country to come out of the woods there is need to diversify the economy and government has to figure out short term solutions to address the funding needs, either to borrow, sell assets or swap. The telecom sector is a vibrant sector that need not to be ignored.
While the chief executive officer of Nestle Nigeria, Mr. Dharnesh Gordhon added, “The forex scarcity and the high cost of production are affecting our revenue and production. We don’t have problem regarding demand. Consumers need to have value for whatever goods they are consuming. So, it is the value of the products that the consumers are expecting to be high. In addition, power is critical. So, government must do everything within its reach to improve the power situation in the country.
‘‘There have been a lot of policies in power and no improvement. For the past seven months, we have not seen gas supply and to that extent, we had to switch to diesel which is quite expensive when compared to gas.”
The Africa and Middle East senior economist, Bloomberg Intelligent, Mr. Mark Bohlund, explained that beyond devaluation of the naira, foreign investors need to be assured of consistent government policies, security, adequate infrastructure like power, transport among others.