By Victor Uzoho
Experts and thought leaders in the Nigerian business and political space on Monday, charted a sustainable development agenda for the country.
According to them, Nigeria needs to attain some key requirements if it must have a cohesive national development, and needs to move beyond rhetoric.
Specifically, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, said a national development agenda would drive nation-building, which in itself is not a destination but a process.
Mustapha, who spoke at a virtual event held by the Lagos Business School (LBS), to examine Nigeria’s changing political economy and the policy options relevant for building sustainable national development, argued that such a development agenda requires the government and people’s commitment and sincerity.
Speaking on the theme, “Nigeria in Challenging Times: Imperatives for a Cohesive National Development Agenda,” Mustapha noted that the country’s dependence on the oil economy has cost it too much.
Also, he said the insecurity in the country has caused it a lot of problems, reduced food production, increased poverty, and reduced the confidence that investors have to come into the country, thereby hindering sustainable development.
In his remarks, the Ekiti State Governor and the Chairman of Nigerian Governors’ Forum, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, said issues of sustainable development in Nigeria, largely revolve around the nature of the federalist system.
He said: “The Nigerian federalist system has a number of positive features that potentially support development. One of these is that the state operates a high level of decentralized autonomy which is an essential tool for healthy competition and innovation, but the problem as we see, currently revolves around the economic challenges and the insecurity that in our country.
“As leaders at different levels and circles of the nation, we are all affected severally and differently in so many ways. It is therefore in our best interest that we call up a national consensus around the understanding of the public and the probable solution to that, and for me, this is the first hindrance to the development of solutions.
“As you know, states are experiencing first-hand inequality, declining livelihood, rising poverty, state fragility, conflict and climate change on our citizens, it is for this reason that the Nigerian governors’ forum has made a case for a review of the fiscal federalism framework as one of the necessary conditions to rebalance government social responsibilities.
“This emphasis on the need for devolution of more powers to subnational governing and also devolution of more resources so that the segment of governing that is at the forefront of service delivery also has responsibilities and resources to tackle them.”
Insecurity in the country has caused it a lot of problems, reduced food production, increased poverty, and reduced the confidence that investors have to come into the country, thereby hindering sustainable development.
Fayemi however noted that the security problem is a socio-economic problem, fuelled by several factors, including inequality in large number of poor people, which estimated over 40 per cent of the Nigerian population are below $1/day, insecurity, insurgency in the north-east, militancy in the south, banditry and kidnapping in the northwest, among others.
On his part, renowned economist, Dr Pat Utomi, said the nation must work passionately to move the elites’ attitude to think production rather than revenue sharing, noting that Nigeria’s problem has been more of revenue sharing than production.
In his remarks, Chairman, Nigeria Economic Summit Group’s (NESG), Asue Ighodalo, said: “When you talk about the elites, it’s both in the government, and private sector. You know that one of the key roles of the government is to provide the enabling environment for doing business, and the private sector is the people that can create jobs and produce.”
On his part, the Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, stressed the need for Nigeria to also critically examine the five major political objectives of security, wealth, freedom, justice, and belief, which are very fundamental, noting that for the country to have strong institutions, citizens would have to prioritise national interest.
“For us to now resolve this crisis in Nigeria, we must address the following. We must address the root causes of insurgency. Education is very important especially in the northern part of the country and in the entire nation. Education is now a very serious problem.”
