By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Nigeria will deal with the effects of falling oil prices for the next two (2) years, Opeyemi Agbaje, seniour consultant/chief executive officer, RTC Advisory Services Limited said in Lagos on Thursday at the “Review of 2014 and Projections for 2015,” organised by the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN).
‘’We will deal with falling oil prices for about two (2) years, but the reality is that whoever wins the election by February 14, 2015 will have to deal with serious economic issues,’’ he said.
According to him, the falling prices of crude oil in the international market have placed Nigeria in a situation where policy makers must restructure the economy.
Agbaje said there are three (3) things Nigerian should have done and try to do, first is the save money for the rainy day.
‘’Just like in the bible what Joseph did in the seven (7) years of plenty; save money, build warehouses, that’s what Joseph did 2,000 years ago, he didn’t go to Harvard Business School,’’ he added.
The CEO at RTC Advisory Services affirmed the Nigerian government tried to do that through the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF). President Goodluck Jonathan and Olusegun Aganga who was the Minister of Finance at that time took that step and they only made N1.00 billion transfer to that fund.
Agbaje said the second point is the issues of the National Assembly jerking up since 2011 the budget benchmark as proposed by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Minister of Finance.
‘’Every year from 2011; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala proposes to a small budget benchmark, the National Assembly jerks it up, every single budget cycle. Federal Government always proposes a conservative benchmark the national assembly always jerks it up,’’ he affirmed.
The RTC Advisory Services CEO further affirmed that the third point is the excess crude account; blaming the government for lack of strong will and leadership to stand their grounds on such issues.
‘’I blame the Government for the lack of strong will and leadership. That’s what leadership is all about, once you have knowledge and you understand where you are going, you should be able to stand your ground. But again, the Governors consistently pressured for the distribution of excess crude account,’’ he said.
Agbaje noted whether government likes it or not, the nation will have to deal with the issue of the Nigerian economy. ‘’We would have to diversify the economy, reduce the size of government and increase investment in alternative sectors whether we like it or not. “The oil price is still falling and we don’t know where the exchange rate is heading to,’’ the affirmed.
