Favour Ozioma Ogbodo
Nigerians do not regard national budgets unless it will lead to a reduction in the price of basic food commodities such as bread, rice and garri, renowned economist, Bismarck Rewane, has said.
Rewane, who is the Managing Director of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, made this known on Thursday during a live appearance on Channels Television’s Business Morning show.
He lamented that people are developing health issues because of difficulty in coping with high cost of living, adding that they are not interested in figures but want to feel the impact of the government’s economic policies.
“And as you know, prices are up and people are under tremendous pressure,” he said, adding that the rate of poverty in the country is driving people mad.
“You will notice that on the streets of Lagos in particular, the number of lunatics has increased and part of it is driven by poverty. Many mental health issues. People are pushed to the wall. Some of them walk across the road even in moving traffic.
“People need to feel the impact. the impact is not going to be felt because of 10 or 12% of GDP, that is N27trn; it has to be more. Where is the more going to come from? It’s going to come from investors and investors are going to come here when they are sure that their money is safe and the environment is clean, and they can look forward to a brighter future.”
“In the end, budgetary arithmetics, budgetary mathematics in economics is of no use to anybody except when by this time, six months’ time, if we are buying rice at N40,000 a bag rather than N60,000 a bag, if we are buying bread N900 a big loaf instead of N1,300 which we are doing today. If we are buying garri at lower prices.
“The people are not interested in whether the budget is balanced and what the debt is. How does it (the budget) affect their day-to-day livelihood? That is the key thing.”
During his budget presentation before the National Assembly on Wednesday, President Bola Tinubu said the proposed N27.5trn 2024 budget will ensure micro-economic stability, poverty reduction, and greater access to social security, amongst others.
He added that security, local job creation, macro-economic stability, investment environment optimisation, human capital development, poverty reduction, and social security will be given priority.
