Ways and Means: We have a problem with financial discipline, says Otti

Alex Otti, Abia state governor, says Nigeria has a problem with financial discipline, which led to excessive printing of money by the federal government.

Otti spoke during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday.

He said almost N30 trillion was printed for the ways and means loans obtained by the federal government from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

According to Otti, the federal government printed too much money and such practice does not improve productivity.

“I believe that the major problem we have is financial discipline. We are dealing with an economy where we printed so much money, at the last count, it must be nearing N30 trillion,” he said.

“So what happens with ways and means is that the quantum of goods that you have available in an economy does not increase with the quantity of money that you print.”

Speaking further, Otti said it does not make “any economic sense”.

“Maybe in the short run, you might print some money to fill some gaps, but when it becomes an economic policy where you just keep printing and spending money, you are just deceiving yourself because that does not improve productivity,” he said.

“It does not improve the quantity of goods that you have available within the economy.” 

Otti said if the economy must recover, the country must move from consumption to production.

The governor said it does not necessarily mean consumption will reduce, however, Nigerians will consume what the country produces, thereby, reducing Nigeria’s dependence on importation.

Otti also condemned the importation of almost all products into the country, saying it puts a lot of pressure on the foreign exchange market.

Meanwhile, Otti said one of the reasons the country is battling inflation is diverse, highlighting unemployment as a major factor.