Fawaz Adebisi
The Registrar/Chief Executive Officer, National Institute of Credit Administration, Prof. Chris Onalo has said that the Federal Government needs to move away from operating a cash economy, if it wants to repay the country’s debt.
Onalo, in an interview, explained that the country is a big one , and needs to borrow, however, he emphasized on the need to be able to pay back.
According to him, Nigeria has a worse payment habit, adding that the country does not have a good record of paying back.
He said, “no country operates in isolation from others. There is a global collaboration and there is a global union. Nigeria cannot stay away from it. Nigeria is a member of so many international organisations and there are benefits to being a member. If Nigeria does not utilise its membership benefits, we lose.
“There is nothing wrong in any government moving to borrow, but we have no confidence anymore. Yes, the money is available for us, but we are saying those monies are not free. If you borrow, you must pay back. Nigeria does not have good record of paying back. Nigeria’s payment habits is one of the worst in the world. Nigeria is a big country. Nigeria has brilliant citizens and Nigerians crave for good things.”
He therefore said that the FG needs to restructure the country, by moving away from operating a cash economy.
He said, “If the economy is embedded credit system, it is difficult for anybody to divert funds because you are going to use cashless system to run credit-based government. And because it is configured, it is planned, whatever you do here on the basis of credit business activities, other organisations are taking track of that transaction. So it becomes difficult for anybody to perpetrate fraud at a monumental portion which undermine our capacity to honour obligations.”
He further said that no economy has achieved growth without credit, adding that “it is reasonable to assert that credit business practices that work elsewhere in the world can be applied in Nigeria
He therefore said the institute, NICA, is looking forward to working with the federal government, as it requested to “receive the courtesy visit by the governing council of the National Institute of Credit Administration as soon as it is convenient for him(President Tinubu).”
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