Recession: Don urges govts. to reduce cost of governance, unnecessary expenditure

Prof. Mustapha Mukhtar of Economics Department, Bayero University, Kano State has advised governments at all levels to reduce cost of governance and unnecessary expenditure to help move the economy out of recession.

Mukhtar gave the advice during a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday.

NAN reports that the recent data released by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicated that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in real terms declined by -3.62 per cent (year-on-year) in the third quarter of 2020.

Reacting on this development, the lecturer said there was need for government to cut down unnecessary expenditure at this time and utilise funds on basic and necessary things.

He said government must make deliberate effort to create job opportunities, adding that doing so would help to boost aggregate demand which was an important component of GDP.

According to him, government needs to also put in more effort to bring down inflation as one of cardinal steps in taking the country out of recession.

Mukhtar also enjoined government to provide security and basic infrastructures required in boosting the country’s economy.

He said that entrepreneurial skills should be provided for the unemployed youths with a view to engaging them for meaningful development.

The lecturer also underscored the need to provide capital for Micro and Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

The don however said COVID-19 pandemic and #EndSARS protests contributed in pushing the country into recession.

“COVID-19 lockdown is associated with massive unemployment, low aggregate demand, increase in prices of goods and services as well as low oil revenue.

“The EndSARS protests on the other hand have destroyed a lot of infrastructure and succeeded in shutting down the economy of major cities in the country.

“All these have caused a lot of damages which translated into low GDP,” he said.

Edited By: Grace Yussuf
(NAN)