FG should borrow ideas, not money, from China – Peter Obi

Vice presidential candidate of the PDP in 2019, Peter Obi has advised the Federal Government to “borrow” China’s economic development template rather than taking loans all the time.

He stated this on Wednesday during a lecture at the 60th Founder’s Day Lecture of University of Nigeria (UNN), Nsukka.

He explained that borrowing progressive plans from the Asian nation, which has undergone different stages of economic development, would be more beneficial to Nigeria than taking loans in the long run.

Obi said it was remarkable that China’s GDP per capita which stood at $960 in 2000 grew to $10,275 in 2019.

Also incredible, he said, was the nation’s improvement of its Human Development Index from 0.594 in 2000 to 0.798 in 2019.

According to the businessman-cum-politician, Nigeria would do well to empower MSMEs which he said helped drive China’s economic development.

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“MSMEs in China which constitute about 95% of Chinese firms, account for 60% of China’s GDP and contributes more than 65% of the import and export business in China.

“They also contributed about 50% of the overall tax revenue of government. MSMEs constitute about 95% of all enterprises in China.

“China’s GDP is today about $14 trillion, which means that 60% translates to about $8.4 trillion— about 21 times the GDP of Nigeria.

“MSMEs account for over 60% of industrial output and provide over 60% of the overall employment and 80% of urban employment in China.

“Talking about the growth of the MSMEs, 10 years down the line, 60% of these MSMEs have shown to become large corporate when compared with Nigeria that 96% are still at the micro stage.

“China has about 840 million people employed (which is 60% of the population), and MSMEs provide 60% of these, which is 500 million people.

“In urban employment, the contribution of MSMEs is even greater; 80% of urban employment is attributed to MSME; of about 500 million people employed in urban areas, MSMEs employ 400 million.

“China had planned to create 50 million jobs from 2015-2020, which is 10 million annually, and is religiously following the plan year-on-year. “In fact, China has consistently surpassed its annual target. China has an unemployment rate of only 3.7%,” Obi said.