Dr Samuel Nzekwe, a former President of, Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), has called on the Federal Government to utilise the proceeds of the Excess Crude Account to build infrastructures in order to achieve a sustainable economic growth.
Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday, in Ota, Ogun state, Nzekwe said that the recent rise in crude oil price on the international market, was a welcome development as more revenue would accrue to the Federal Government to finance the nation’s annual budget.
NAN recalled that the benchmark of crude oil prices was increased from $20 dollars to $30 dollars in the national budget just as oil prices spiraled and was presently selling between $64 dollars to $65 dollars per barrel at the international market.
Nzekwe explained that any drop in the price of crude oil due to external volatility in the international market would similarly only generate small revenue to finance the country’ s budget, therefore the price increases at a time the country was emerging from a recession was good for the economy.
He noted that the Telecommunication and Agriculture contributed to country coming out of the recession, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), whilst the Manufacturing sector performed poorly in contributing to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product(GDP) due to the lack of infrastructure.
The former ANAN helmsman, therefore, appealed to the Federal Government to judiciously use the money in the Excess Crude Account to improve infrastructure, particularly good roads, stable power supply and adequate security.
“The government should focus on capital development, so that all sectors of the economy could contribute their quota to the nation’s GDP.
“Also, if the state of insecurity should continue, the contribution of the agriculture sector to GDP growth might drop in the forthcoming ranking of the NBS.” he said.
Nzekwe further asserted that provision of adequate security was the only means by which the nation could attract foreign investors to create job opportunities for our teeming youth, thereby reducing poverty. (