Oye: Economic growth not inclusive, households, businesses strained
By Merit Ibe
The Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics (AERE) has said Nigeria cannot claim to be experiencing inclusive economic growth as long as households, farmers and businesses continue to struggle with rising prices, high borrowing costs, insecurity and an increasingly expensive operating environment.
Chairman of the group, Dele Kelvin Oye, stated this in a policy brief titled, “From Poverty-Fuelling Growth to Inclusive Growth: What Government Must Do to Turn Reforms into Broad-Based Prosperity.”
Oye argued that improvements in government revenue and headline economic indicators would remain meaningless unless they translated into higher incomes, decent jobs and lower poverty levels for ordinary Nigerians.
According to him, government should focus on creating an enabling environment for businesses rather than taking over the role of the private sector.
“The state should function as ‘a credible referee, enabler and protector of productive enterprise, not a costly substitute for it,’” he said.