There was mild drama on Tuesday when the President of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Asiwaju Michael Olawale-Cole became overly emotional during media briefing.
Olawale-Cole broke down in tears while addressing the media on the unsettling state of Nigeria’s economy in Lagos.
Olawale-Cole said the high and rising inflation rate, which stood at 15.70percent as of February up from 15.60percent recorded in January 2022 is troubling and calls for deep concern.
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Looking forward to the second quarter, he said the headline inflation is expected to remain high as the combination of supply chain disruption due to the Russia-Ukraine war, food supply shocks, forex policies, higher energy costs, forex illiquidity, heightened insecurity in major food processing states will continue to mount pressure on domestic consumer prices
He stated that a broad-based harmonisation of fiscal and monetary policies toward addressing the identified structural constraints will significantly help moderate inflationary pressure in the short term.
The LCCI boss also expressed worry over issues bothering on debt sustainability, foreign exchange market, monetary policy development, foreign trade, capital importation, the Russia-Ukraine war, oil theft, power sector, among others.
He said the situation has reached a worrisome dimension, particularly with the recent on the Abuja-Kaduna train which claimed some lives.