Say What! Nigeria Could Stay In Recession Till 2020 – Agbakoba

Prominent lawyer, Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) has said Nigeria will continue to wallow in economic recession until 2020 except the Federal Government takes hold of the banking sector and exert more regulatory control, among other measures.

Agbakoba advised the Federal Government to return the Treasury Single Account to the commercial banks and create new supervisory agency to monitor them, while the CBN should focus its attention on formulating monetary policies.
Speaking on Tuesday on what Nigeria should do to come out of recession, Agbakoba said:
“Give Treasury Single Account back to the banks at single digit rates and supervise the banks; I recommend a lending base of 5 per cent.

“Limit the CBN to monetary policy and take away banking supervision to new prudential regulatory authority and banking ethics to new financial conduct authority.

"If banks focus on lending and not trading, money will flood the system for productive value.”

Agbakoba, who claimed Nigeria’s economy had already slid further from recession into depression, also said Federal Government did not have what could be called an economic team at the moment.

He argued, therefore, that one of the first steps President Muhammadu Buhari should take to rescue the economy from recession was to set up an economic team comprising of experts or technocrats.

He stressed that the only way out of recession was for the government to pump money into the system by embarking on developmental projects rather than adopting austerity measures.

“We must spend our way out of recession,” Agbakoba stressed.

“If you go to the hospital and the doctor says you’re anaemic, only one thing is done – transfusion. So, how can the government present an austerity programme?

“The government must be clear as to what policy it wants to pursue. There is only one way out of recession and it is massive bouncing. You have to bounce the economy."