Chukwuma Soludo, former governor
of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says one of his friends asked him to reject
the appointment into the economic advisory council.
President Muhammadu Buhari
unveiled an 8-man economic council on September 16.
Some economic experts had
commended the president for the decision, saying it is capable of yielding
fruits.
But speaking at The Platform, an
annual conference organised by Covenant Christian Centre in Lagos, on Tuesday,
Soludo faulted the thought pattern of some Nigerians.
“When I was named as member of
the Economic Advisory Council, a friend called me, spoke in Igbo: ‘leave their
job for them’, I asked why, he said ‘but there’s no money there now, just a
Committee… that’s how we reason in Nigeria,” he said.
The economist said the
constitution is not sustainable and cannot carry Nigeria and its citizens for
long.
Soludo further likened Nigeria’s
current reality to the “foundation of an old bungalow”, saying the country
needs to among other things change its economic institutions.
He said: “Our constitution,
together with its command and control institutions concentrated at Abuja, was
designed for and around the sharing and consumption of the oil rent. It is
largely obsolete for the demands of a production economy without oil rent which
requires competitive and flexible rather than unitary federalism.
“As the oil rent is tapping off,
its internal contradictions have burst open, requiring a lot of survival
mechanisms to keep the system afloat. But for how long?
“You cannot build a 100-storey
building upon a foundation of an old bungalow. The new economy we need to build
is a 100-storey building and we cannot put a 100-storey building on this
foundation that has been laid for a bungalow.
“A post-oil economy requires that
agents maximise their fullest potentials which would require a national rather
than a federal response. You can’t clap with one hand.
“What we need is a new national
business model. You are designing good ideas and good plans without the
underlying infrastructure to carry those ideas forward.”
Soludo added that although
Nigeria’s greatest resources is its population, adequate measures have not been
put in place to secure the future of the young generation.
He charged the elite to agree on
a goal to give the Nigerian child “what we enjoyed.”
He said: “This children in the
next 30 years will be youth, they need jobs, they need education, they need
water, they need housing. Twenty years time, the oil will be history. I want to
ask whether we are actually prepared enough to welcome the 400 million
Nigerians in 30 years time.
“Since 1992, we have implemented
all kinds of plans all designed to diversify the economy but we are still tied
to the life support of the oil sector. If you want to change a persistent
economic structure, you have to change the underlying economic institution.
“Our greatest resource is human
beings, but we are not going to export illiterates. The easiest way to waste
the future is to continue to churn out illiterates and largely unemployed
persons must of whom see criminality as the only way to escape.”
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