The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Western Zone Chairman, Mikahil Ogundiran, has called the attention of the Federal Government to the importance of freeing the nation’s economy from its dependence on oil and focusing on other sectors for foreign earnings in order to help sustain the nation’s economy and calm the fear of falling back into another recession.
Speaking during the investiture of the new Chairman of the Ogbomosho District (Oyo State) Society of ICAN, Ogundiran, who previously occupied the position, said
“The economic team of the Federal Government could not be for from the truth by saying that we are technically out of recession. It is not what can be declared without studying the indices that we use to determine what the economy is saying. When you see an upward trend in the indices by which the economy is measured, then we can say that we are out of recession.”
He also commented on the necessity of the announcement of economic recession, saying that the government had to inform Nigerians so as to reduce their expectations from the present as a result of the corruption that was perpetrated under the last government. Then he advised that for Nigerians to start feeling the effect of coming out of recession, corruption has to reduce.
Ogundiran advised that government should focus on alternative sources of revenue apart from oil because the world was advancing technologically and soon we would have oil that no country will need.
“We now have cars running without fuel and so on. For us to develop as a nation and to feel the effect of economic growth, Nigeria must quickly diversify her economy and target foreign earnings from other sectors rather than just oil.”
The chairman of the society also admonished that the nation manages the present gains of her economy in order to prevent a repeat of what it experienced in the past, while urging government at all levels to show more commitment to the welfare of the populace.
