Peter Egwuatu
03 February 2013, Sweetcrude, Lagos – The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has doubted the manifestation of the projection of a double digit growth for the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) made by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The Director-General of LCCI, Muda Yusuf, explained that the prediction was not realistic even if some reforms in the economy were successful.
According to Yusuf, there are many challenges confronting the power and oil sectors and these challenges are unlikely to be resolved this year.“There is the non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill and with January out of it, that forecast is not realistic. “I am not too optimistic that this can happen this year. We have just 11 months to go in 2013,” he said
Yusuf said that even if the PIB was passed, the investment needed to accelerate growth was not easy to come by.
“We are talking of billions of dollar investment in the oil and gas sector and there is the problem of labour issues.The forecast may be possible in the near future when these issues are resolved, but not in 2013,” he said.
The Governor of CBN, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, made the forecast at a panel discussion on emerging markets at the just concluded World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Sanusi said that the growth was attainable if the current reforms in the oil and gas sector and the privatisation of the power sector were allowed to scale through.
Meanwhile, the Director of Public Relations, Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), Mr Nerus Ekezie, said 65 per cent of new businesses in Nigeria go moribund within the first three years.
Ekezie said that the figure was derived from researches on lifespan of businesses in Nigeria.
He said that some of the researches identified the harsh business environment in the country as a major setback for their survival.
