Buhari Ill-Prepared To Tackle Recession – ACCI

Ejinkeonye, in a statement, stressed that the country won’t be out of recession in the fourth quarter of this year as stated by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Recall that Mr Godwin Emefiele, the CBN governor while revealing the decisions reached at its September MPC meeting in Abuja, said, “I am optimistic that based on the actions being taken by the monetary and fiscal authorities, the fourth quarter results will show evidence that we have started to move out of the recession.”

The ACCI maintained that even with the right economic policies, it would take the country about five years to come out of the current economic crisis.

He said, “We have economic recession, economic recovery and economic boom. It takes a period of five years for a country to recover from recession before it can start talking of economic boom, that is, if the right measures are in place.

“We are yet to know the physical measures the government has put in place to enable us know that we are on the right track.

“Even when the right decisions and policies are set out, we do not agree that recovery will come too soon.

“That means they have only one quarter to get us out of the recession that is so deep. We do not believe that. It will take a while.”

He also charged the government to open up to Nigerians on the real situation of things, adding that this is the only viable way for stakeholders in the economy to proffer workable solutions to the crisis.

He added, “Thailand went into recession and it was just last year they came out of it. The Federal Government is either being economic with the truth or not telling us what is really happening.

“Government does not have structures on ground to suggest that it would happen. I do not think it is going to happen.”

However, ACCI didn’t proffer any suggestions on how to address the current economic crisis.