A former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has urged Nigerians to demand good governance and accountability from political leaders.
Soludo made the call at “The Big Ideas Podium’’ with the theme “Nigeria: The Economics of Failure’’ of the African Heritage Institution (Afri-Heritage) in Enugu on Tuesday.
He said that the real solution to the myriad of challenges confronting the country was an exemplary leadership based on performance and accountability.
The former CBN boss said that the country was blessed with hardworking and resilient people who needed a focused and positive looking leadership.
Also, a former Minister of Education, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, said that the failure of the economy was due to wrong policies and outright non-implementation of positive policies.
Ezekwesili, who was the guest speaker, said that successive leaderships in the country had failed to concentrate on having and building a solid economy for the overall prosperity of all Nigerians.
“The ruling class should focus on delivering good governance to the people and not unnecessary politics since the economy is what matters to most Nigerians.
“A good example is that of Rwanda where the country’s citizens base their patriotism and national conscience on the economic prosperity inherent to everyone,’’ he said.
The former minister said that Nigerians and leaders needed to dream and work out positive solutions to the current economic downturn by changing the current socio-economic order.
“We need to have focus, target and timeline on how to solve most of our economic challenges as well as put collective and concerted efforts to bring them to reality.
“We can borrow a leaf from countries within and outside Africa that had been able to grow their economies, create wealth and prosperity for their people,’’ he said.
Prof. Okey Ibeanu, a National Commissioner of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), said that the best way to revitalise the economy was for the government to pull people back to work.
“There is a need to create a new innovative educational structure that would be entrepreneurial-driven to create jobs, while the government must ensure that all institution of the state work for the greater good of all,’’ Ibeanu said.
Afri-Heritage, formerly known as African Institute for Applied Economics, conducts economic and political policy researches, facilitates policy advocacy, training, networking and consulting services. (NAN)
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