Clement Ebri advises Buhari to declare immediate National Economic Emergency

 Former Governor of Cross River State, Mr. Clement Ebri, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately declare a state of economic emergency on the country.

Ebri, who was governor of Cross River State from 1991 to 1993, said the proposed economy emergency, which should be backed by a law passed by the National Assembly, would give the president sweeping powers to deal with the current economic depression Nigeria is currently experiencing.

Ebri, who suggested some policies that should be adopted immediately by the president, told journalists yesterday in Calabar that Nigeria’s economy is facing an abnormal situation, and therefore requires abnormal solution.

The situation we are in demands very drastic measures, the president should declare a state of economic emergency on the nation, and strengthen it with a bill which should be passed into law by the National Assembly. 

We are not in ordinary times, the naira is losing its value on a daily basis and the nation’s economy is obviously in very bad shape. 

An economic emergency will give the president some sweeping powers to deal swiftly with the situation, thereby avoiding unnecessary encumbrances and bottlenecks that have constituted stumbling blocks towards the honest efforts of the president at addressing the nation’s economy problems,” Ebri said.

Ebri, a professional economist, suggested that the president should, also establish a National Economic Recovery Fund (NERF), backed by law, to mobilise funds from patriotic Nigerians for sustenance of the Nigeria economy.

“This should be part of the National Emergency Bill to be placed before the National Assembly.

“The budget alone cannot fix the economic problems affliction the nation. The emergency act will be best suited to address the economic challenges,” Ebri said.

Ebri also stated that an economy emergency law would give the president, federal anti-corruption, and financial institutions the powers to explore other means, and immediately recover looted funds from those indicted, without going through the lengthy process of litigation.

Ebri, who recently joined the All Progressives Congress (APC), noted that “in most cases the lengthy litigations end up frustrating efforts at recovering of loots that were already tracked and located.

On the falling value of the naira against the dollar and other notable international currencies, Ebi said the federal government should adopt immediate policies that would address the scarcity of international currencies, especially the dollar in the foreign exchange market.

He opined that the current policy whereby the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) no longer sells dollars to the Bureau de Change should be reversed.

According to the former governor, the CBN should rather introduce periodic sales of the dollar to the bureau de change, preferable twice a month, and thereafter monitor them on how they apply the dollars sold to them by the CBN.

“The federal government should immediately inject recovered funds into the economy. Instead of keeping the monies in escrow accounts, they can be applied in ways that would go a long way in addressing the scarcity of the dollar and other international currencies, thereby shoring up the value of the naira.

“To avoid leakages, the recovered funds that have been recovered, and whatever they are used for should be properly documented and accounted for so as to avoid a situation where they will be looted again by unpatriotic Nigerians who are still in the system,” Ebri said.

Apparently drawing from the economic history of depressed economies, Ebri stated further that the federal government should without delay commence massive construction of infrastructure across the country at the local government, state to federal levels.

He said this would immediately translate the country into a huge construction site, with the positive impact of assuaging the hardship and cash crunch being experienced by the ordinary Nigerian.

“Government should immediately embark on development of physical infrastructural at the local government, state and national levels to address the current liquidity problem the nation is experiencing.

“This will create massive employment of skilled and unskilled labour, and also allow liquid cash to circulate in the system. It will lubricate the economy and put money in the hands of the ordinary people. This is easy to achieve. 

Every councillor, local government chairman, governor and the federal government could identify at least a project that could be immediately executed using direct labour.

These projects, pending the passage of the budget, could be finance through a special fund, backed up by an economic emergency act. This strategy has been tested and proven to be very effective in addressing economic depression wherever they occurred,” Ebri stressed.

He said there was nothing wrong with the federal government obtaining loans, at low interest rates, in ensuring the expeditious realisation of infrastructural development in across the country.

Ebri said the CBN should create policies that would enable the ordinary Nigerian investors, the small and medium scale entrepreneurs obtain loans from banks at very low interest rate, stressing that this one of the measures that can address the liquidity problem faced by the business community and most investors.

Continuing, the former governor said the federal government must adopt stringent measures that would discourage hording of money by dubious individuals in the country; a practice he observed has also contributed to the scarcity of funds that are very much needed to run the nation’s economy.

He stated that given the emergency situation the nation had found itself, it was high time all Nigerians, irrespective of political leaning, came out to support Buhari in recovering and rebuilding the country’s economy and the nation in general.