Dr Obadiah Mailafia, a former Deputy Governor in Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says restoring Nigerian economy to new equilibrium will require visionary and bold leadership.
Mailafia, who spoke in Abuja on Tuesday at the 9th Annual Forum of Laureates of the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM), said Nigerian leaders must have creative and original thinking on diversification.
He said that diversification of the economy was the only way to re-engineer the growth in the Nigerian economy.
“The major challenge of the country is rooted in the mono-product economy the country practised, whereby the extractive sector pushes up the exchange artificially, while undermining the real sector.
“It is also associated with high level of rent-seeking behaviours, deindustrialisation and weakened public institutions.
“This paved the way for an unprecedented diminution in public revenues accompanied by falling reserves and a naira that has been on a tailspin,’’ the ex-deputy governor said.
He recalled that the Nigerian economy experienced a period of sustainable exponential growth during the year 2003 to 2010 with an impressive seven per cent growth annually.
Mailafia said for the years 2010 to 2015, the country’s annual growth reduced, but with a respectable 4.8 per cent.
He said that the Nigerian economy officially entered into recession from the second quarter of 2016 with consecutive negative growth rates of minus zero to four per cent and minus two to one per cent.
“The first quarters of the year were compounded with industrial layoffs, worsening unemployment and mounting inflationary pressures,’’ the ex-deputy governor said.
According to him, one of the criticisms of our national development strategy is the fact that it has fostered growth, while making little or no inroads on poverty.
Mailafia said that there was the need for government to have strategic trade policy that would help expand its range of export products, capture new markets and win new international trade partners.
He listed seven key areas of concentration to help re-engineer the country’s economy to include provision of a stimulus package, power, infrastructure and human capital.
Other areas, the former deputy governor said, were poverty alleviation and food security, mass industrialisation, job creation and government’s effectiveness.
He said that these key areas needed to be applied to the development of the economy with greatest urgency.
Mailafia called on the Federal Government to take a cue from the government of Malaysia, United Arab Emirate (UAE), Brazil and Mauritius and copy their various models to develop the Nigerian economy.
He said that Nigeria’s diversification must be founded on enhancing the quality of governance, leadership, and core public institution including reform of the civil service.
The ex-deputy CBN governor called on the government to engage the thinking faculty of the NNOM laureates in seeking practical solutions to some of the critical development challenges of the country. (NAN)