Domestic production of solar panels to generate electricity off-grid would boost job creation, improve power generation and transform the economy, the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, said at the weekend.
According to him, the major raw material for its production silica, can be found in abundance in the country. He said the country is also blessed with sun with which solar energy can be generated off-grid to run small business, create jobs along the value chain and lead to other multiplier effects on the economy.
The former traditional ruler who spoke during an interview on Arise Television at the weekend, supported the removal of oil subsidy, adding that the economy wasn’t prepared for the Covid-19 pandemic because of the huge percentage of cash it has been using to service debts.
Speaking on the economy before COVID-19 and the measures taken to reset it, he said before the outbreak of the virus, the economy was “already on slow growth mode”, stressing that the huge cash spent on debt servicing was also excruciating.
He said: “We were already spending 60-70 per cent of government revenue on debt servicing, we already had low level of resource…we already had multiple exchange rates; we have already spent five, six years and continue paying N1trillion on fuel subsidy, we already do not have transparency in NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation). So, we already set up, precisely not to be able to cope with an unexpected crisis which is why the only option before the government was to go and raise money, go and borrow because the revenues aren’t there, the resources aren’t there, the buffers aren’t there. Now, that places the country in a very difficult situation.”
He said the new measures put in place by the Federal Government were painful but to put the economy on the right path in view of paucity of funds.
“It is not totally impossible, some of the recent measures announced, the measures from the IMF ((International Monetary Fund); the elimination of fuel subsidy, painful as those are, those are necessary structural adjustment we need to make to improve the revenue profile of government. We now have increased transparency in the NNPC, I just read this money that NNPC has remitted almost N2trillion to the Federation Account which is much more than in ages.’’ omestic production of solar panels to generate electricity off-grid would boost job creation, improve power generation and transform the economy, the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, said at the weekend.
According to him, the major raw material for its production silica, can be found in abundance in the country. He said the country is also blessed with sun with which solar energy can be generated off-grid to run small business, create jobs along the value chain and lead to other multiplier effects on the economy.
The former traditional ruler who spoke during an interview on Arise Television at the weekend, supported the removal of oil subsidy, adding that the economy wasn’t prepared for the Covid-19 pandemic because of the huge percentage of cash it has been using to service debts.
Speaking on the economy before COVID-19 and the measures taken to reset it, he said before the outbreak of the virus, the economy was “already on slow growth mode”, stressing that the huge cash spent on debt servicing was also excruciating.
He said: “We were already spending 60-70 per cent of government revenue on debt servicing, we already had low level of resource…we already had multiple exchange rates; we have already spent five, six years and continue paying N1trillion on fuel subsidy, we already do not have transparency in NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation). So, we already set up, precisely not to be able to cope with an unexpected crisis which is why the only option before the government was to go and raise money, go and borrow because the revenues aren’t there, the resources aren’t there, the buffers aren’t there. Now, that places the country in a very difficult situation.”
He said the new measures put in place by the Federal Government were painful but to put the economy on the right path in view of paucity of funds.
“It is not totally impossible, some of the recent measures announced, the measures from the IMF ((International Monetary Fund); the elimination of fuel subsidy, painful as those are, those are necessary structural adjustment we need to make to improve the revenue profile of government. We now have increased transparency in the NNPC, I just read this money that NNPC has remitted almost N2trillion to the Federation Account which is much more than in ages.’’
Nice post