Posted Mon, Sep 9, 2019 4:00 AM

Mr. Jaiyeola Reveals Measures That Can Help Drive Inclusive Growth in Nigeria

Our Chief Executive Officer, Mr. ‘Laoye Jaiyeola spoke with CNBC Africa on the different measures Nigeria can adopt to drive inclusive growth.

According to information from the National Bureau of statistics, Nigeria’s second quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) slowed to 1.94 percent and this has brought up serious concerns. Mr. Jaiyeola revealed that with an average growth of 3 percent, there was a need for all hands to be on deck to ensure that the country experiences more growth in the third quarter. He reiterated that there was a need for all the newly appointed ministers to set the ball rolling and determine policies that will help grow Nigeria’s economy.

Furthermore, Mr. Jaiyeola noted that there was a need to shore up Nigeria’s revenues by looking at ways through which waivers can be reduced and the tax net, widened. He said the NESG is currently running an advocacy known as Bettertax which is concerned with looking at how taxation processes can be simplified, but more importantly how the citizenry can get value for taxes paid. He said from the advocacy, the NESG found out that Nigerians are not averse to paying taxes but that they are demanding value for taxes paid.

Mr. Jaiyeola said there was a need to rethink the way we run our economy to make it a more inclusive one. He reiterated that inclusive growth must be separated from criminality and that the government must do all it can to secure lives and properties, while dealing with those that take laws into their hands.

The CEO of Nigeria’s foremost think tank revealed that there is a need for people to feel the impact of growth and that the NESG has been clamouring for inclusiveness over the last three years. He said there was a serious urban migration in Nigeria which was mostly influenced by poverty and insecurity; and that this can be corrected through a rural-urban integration plan.

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The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) is a not-for profit/non-partisan think tank with a mandate to promote and champion the reform of the Nigerian economy into an open, private sector-led economy that is globally competitive on a sustainable basis. Being a prominent advocacy think tank, the NESG engages government, private sector and civil society in key development issues and economic policies in Nigeria.