Some financial experts on Monday advised the Federal Government to ensure that the new flexible exchange rate regime would not encourage round tripping

They gave the advice in interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos while reacting to President Muhammad Buhari’s Democracy Day Speech.

They said that government should avoid a foreign exchange system that would encourage corruption and worsen the current foreign exchange situation.

Mr Okechukwu Unegbu, a former President, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), said that government should particularly check round tripping.

Unegbu said that government should tackle social dislocations to reduce unemployment, high inflation and the depressed economy to achieve the desired growth.

He advised government to pursue economic diversification to strengthen other sectors of the economy in line with the current realities.

Unegbu said that government at all levels should embrace cost efficiency strategies, noting that business should no longer be as usual.

According to him, state governors should look inwards to boost internally generated revenue and stop depending on federal allocations.

Unegbu said that ministers and members of the National Assembly should stop living as if nothing was wrong with the economy, but should face economic realities and cut costs.

He expressed dissatisfaction with government's failure to tell Nigerians the amount of funds recovered so far and the names of the looters as promised.

Unegbu, a lawyer, said that the president would have given more confidence to Nigerians and foreign investors with such pronouncements.

Prof. Uche Uwaleke, an Associate Professor in Banking and Finance and Head of Finance Department, Nasarawa State University, Lafia, said that economic activities would likely recover with strict implementation of the 2016 budget and the flexible foreign exchange rate policy.

Uwaleke said that deregulation of the downstream sector, appreciation of crude oil price, the likely improvement in electricity supply and good business environment were things that would shape the economy.

He said that power failure, petrol scarcity and foreign exchange shortages impacted negatively on corporate performance, the stock market and the economy in general in the past one year.

Uwaleke said that delay in budget implementation affected investor confidence and the exit of foreign investors from the local capital market. (NAN)

•Photo shows Okechukwu Unegbu.

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