An Economist, Mr Chijioke Ekechukwu, says the first term of four years of President Muhammadu Buhari is filled with some laudable monetary and fiscal policies as well as major developments
Ekechukwu made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday.
He said the implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) reduced corruption in the civil service and enabled government to track its finances at all times.
Ekechukwu said funding of the agricultural sector through the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme and other avenues remained a great achievement of the country.
According to him, the funding has created many jobs in the rice value chain.
The economist said the infrastructure development of the roads, the railway and airports were worthy of note.
He noted that there had been an improvement in tax being generated by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) compared to previous regimes.
Ekechukwu noted that there had been a remarkable stability in the Foreign Exchange Market, saying that though Nigerians expected the rate to come down further to less than N200 to a dollar.
“The country’s external reserves have grown,’’ he said.
Ekechukwu urged government to address the problem of kidnapping.
He said that the manufacturing sector needed priority attention of both Federal and State Governments.
“Corruption still bedevils our country with little or no action taken against perpetrators,’’ Ekechukwu said.
He noted that economic policies could be made better to yield good results.
“We need to diversify the economy more by down-playing oil revenue and opening up of other sectors to generate more revenue,’’ Ekechukwu said.
