Onitsha-based businessmen, under the aegis of Onitsha Chamber of
Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ONICCIMA) has lamented the
poor state of national economy and rising poverty level in the country.
The group said that the current recession in the country, coupled
with other macro economic challenges, had continued to pose a strong
threat to the Organised Private Sector.
The out-going President of ONICCIMA, Uchenna Apakama, stated this at
the sidelines of the group’s 29th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in
Onitsha
According to him, a situation “where poverty level has been
aggravating, with 67.1 per cent of the population living below a US
dollar per day, with power generation still a nightmare and electricity
tariffs soaring higher and distribution companies, DISCOs, blatantly
refusing customers’ access to pre-paid meters, is highly worrisome.
“The Monetary Policy Rate, MPR, is still pegged at a higher rate of
14 per cent since July 2016, with lending rate of between 20-30 per cent
remaining unattractive to the OPS, while the rate of inflation is
almost 18 per cent, just as 130 million Nigerians lack adequate
sanitation, with 57 million lacking access to safe drinking water,
leading to the death of some 45,000 children annually due to diarrhoea.
“Unemployment rate across the land is high, hovering at 42.24 per
cent in 2016, with thousands of graduates joining the labour market
every year. Corruption, insecurity and crime, including armed robbery,
kidnapping, Boko Haram, and herdsmen attacks are assuming pervasive and
horrendous dimensions now more than ever.”
He, therefore, called on the governments at all levels to continue
taking proactive measures to reduce the high incidence of poverty in the
land, even as he welcomed the initiative of the Federal Government in
establishing the ‘Ease of Doing Business Commission’ headed by Acting
President Yemi Osinbajo.
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