Unionist tasks FG on economic diversification

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.