A former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Professor Kingsley Moghalu, has called on the federal government to quickly raise a N20 trillion bond for the rebirth of three strategic sectors in three years.

Speaking on the topic, ‘An Economy in Distress: Which Way Forward at the 16th edition of the leadership yearly conference and awards in Abuja, yesterday, Moghalu said the leadership of the country needs to start thinking strategically instead of the present knee-jerk reactions that only create new and further opportunities for corruption.

These moves, he said, would form major steps in the journey to pull the country out of the current economic crisis. He said the project is to be predicated on massive investment in the development of railway lines (linking all state capitals), housing (mortgage-ready and qualitative to incrementally reduce housing deficits), and agriculture (covering the value chain), to be delivered in the first phase over three years, beginning in 2024.

According to him, “This project, which we shall for our discussion call project “3-in-3″, should target to create five million new direct and indirect jobs. It will create two new thriving economic sectors. The purpose is to stimulate productivity in agriculture and housing, two sectors that do not depend on foreign exchange, and depend on locally available resources across the 36 states. That resource is land.”

Moghalu said the three project sectors are all outside of exclusive federal control, constitutionally. “This will allow flexible and diversified intervention by subnational governments and the private sector under an overarching federal coordination,” he said, adding that state and local governments as anchor implementers should leverage their control of land assets as debt capital to create value chains under the project.

He said the current hardship in the country is a creation of many years and a result of the many wrong choices the country has made adding that the hardship will take at least three to five years to end, provided the government is ready to have the courage to fix the fundamentals.

While applauding the president for the two strategic economic reform steps of removing fuel subsidy and the unification of the foreign exchange rates, Moghalu was however quick to add that the government failed to plan before taking the steps which he considers a major mistake.

He advised the President to immediately create a high-level economic advisory team made up of professional economists.

“The President of Nigeria should create, following careful consideration, a full-time, high-level and professional Economic Advisory Council of seven economists. The Tripartite Economic Advisory team he appointed recently has some important limitations. The most important thing is that it is a part-time assignment. Nigeria’s economic crisis today needs far more than part-time advisers to be effectively managed,” he said.

Further, Moghalu backed the apex bank on its recent monetary policy stance, especially the raising of the Monetary Policy rate by 400 basis points.

He advised the CBN to continue its recently announced monetary policy stance of tightening the money supply until inflation is brought under firm control in the single digits.

Moghalu, who was the keynote speaker at the 16 edition of Leadership yearly conference and awards held in Abuja, yesterday said at a moment of crisis such as this, a choice must be made between macroeconomic stability, in particular price stability and growth.

He said: “Some have criticised the central bank’s rate hike by a dramatic 400 basis points (4%), noting that Nigeria’s present hyper-inflation is much cost-push in nature but demand-pull. This criticism, while understandable, does not consider the full picture.

“First, forex instability is a major cause of cost-push inflation. Loads of Naira sloshing around in loose monetary conditions contribute to the huge demand pressure on the U.S. dollar and other foreign currencies as capital flight intensifies. This vicious cycle must be broken. Doing so will help achieve both price stability and exchange rate stability in the medium term.

“It is also calculated to increase confidence among investors, who need attractive yields to bring in portfolio investments that will help stabilise the exchange rate and do not wish to invest in high-inflation environments that erode value.”

He said the CBN must also keep an eye on financial stability, as high-interest rates will stress the ability of businesses to repay or obtain loans.

Earlier in her welcome address, the Chairman of Leadership Group, Zainab Nda-Isaiah, said the event was special because it coincides with the 20th anniversary of the founding of Leadership. She paid glowing tributes to her late husband, Sam Nda-Isaiah, for his vision and dedication to the creation of a better society.