Amid the growing economic challenges in Nigeria, Chief Olisa Agbakoba, a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has urged President Bola Tinubu to take cue from how former president Olusegun Obasanjo handled the situation during his tenure.
Speaking in a chat with TheScrutiny, Agbakoba said the major issue confronting the Tinubu administration is lack of funds to meet the needs of over 200 million Nigerians.
Giving some practical suggestions, Agbakoba said Nigeria will get out of the woods within six months if President Tinubu can implement the recommendations.
He wrote “The major issue confronting President Tinubu is very simple and easily resolved! President Tinubu doesn’t have enough money in the treasury to meet the huge National needs of 200m Nigerians . So there is a simple solution. I urge President Tinubu to look at how President Obasanjo resolved his money headache .
” First President Obasanjo tackled corruption and plugged waste . Nuhu Ribadu saw to that , as the fear of Nuhu was the beginning of wisdom . Second and most important was that president Obasanjo understood what is called public sector borrowing requirements and how much was needed to sustain the National system”.
“Most important, was President Obasanjo’s clear vision of how to raise revenue. This was from optimal production of crude oil . The revenue from crude oil was fully maximized. Crude oil daily production was at maximum capacity. Funds from sales of crude propped the Naira value to the dollar. The Government was able to get things done without borrowing but using crude oil revenue” .
” President Tinubu must reverse the trend by maximizing crude oil outputs, removing the international oil companies from control of our hydrocarbons revenue, paying down debts and hedging the Naira against the dollar with crude oil dollars”.
” So quite simple, president Tinubu should maximize crude oil production to at least 2.4 million barrels a day , pay down debts , apply funds to meet national needs . If this simple fiscal process is sustained Nigeria will be out of this desperate situation within 6 months. In the final analysis optimal crude oil production is our way out”.
