A trade unionist, Mr Benson Adegbeyeni, has urged
the Federal Government to come up with ingenuous strategies to diversify the
nation`s economic base.
Adegbeyeni, the
President of Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), gave
the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on
Friday.
He said diversification
of the economic base was imperative to build buffers against the pitfalls of a
mono-product economy.
The unionist said the
country`s over-dependence on crude oil had hampered the economy and there was
the need to open more revenue channels through sustained development of other
sectors.
“We have for long run a
mono-product economy, neglecting other sectors and depending on the revenue
from crude-oil exports to fund our budgets by almost 100 per cent.
“Now that the price of
oil has tumbled in the international market, everybody is talking about
recession and people complain of unpaid salaries and other problems.
“But I think we can
avoid this by taking deliberate steps to diversify the economy and open up
other sectors with great export potential,” he said.
Adegbeyeni advised
government to particularly pay attention to the agriculture and mining sectors,
saying the sectors were once the mainstay of the economy.
The unionist also said
that the entertainment and the maritime sectors could substantially grow the
GDP if well developed
He said the poor state
of access roads to ports in Lagos was an obstacle to the development of the
maritime sector and urged the government to fix them.
He commended the
current administration for the hard stance on corruption, saying if the effort
was sustained it would deter the mindless looting of the treasury.
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