Public commentator, Mahdi Shehu, has blamed anti-people government policies, as he described them, for the worsening economic hardship in Nigeria.
Shehu made the remarks in a post he shared on Tuesday, where he criticised what he called policies driven mainly by revenue generation without looking at their impact on the citizens.
“There is no meaningful progress in any society with such policies,” he said.
“Bad government policies, unpopular government policies, anti-people government policies, anti-progress government policies,” he said.
“When government policies are more about revenue than about the welfare of the citizens, the economy and society suffer,” he said.
“There will be no progress anywhere policies are tilted towards getting more revenue without minding the consequences and the burden of those taxes to the lives of citizens,” he added.
Shehu also attacked what he called a growing culture of over-consumption and borrowing among citizens, saying it erodes economic stability.
He said that a society cannot grow if the people spend more than they earn and get into debt.
“It is impossible to build a healthy society where people are aspiring to spend ostentatiously, spending more than they earn, and pushing themselves into a debt trap,” he said.
The commentator further said Nigeria’s heavy reliance on imports is also affecting economic growth.
“Any country that’s based on importation for its consumption, that country can’t grow,” he said.
He warned that a society with little or no capacity to save and invest cannot attain sustainable development.
“Where you can’t save, where you can’t invest, where you consume everything, your name is a spectator,” he said.
Shehu called for a shift in economic mindset, advocating for policies that would promote production, savings and investment rather than the over-reliance on consumption and importation.
