Bismarck Rewane, a member of the
economic advisory council, says Nigeria is not short of ideas but the country
lacks mental discipline to execute ideas.
Rewane said this on Tuesday at
The Platform, an annual conference organised by Covenant Christian Centre in
Lagos.
He said credibility does not come
from what is being said but done, adding that what people want are results and
impacts.
“Nigeria is not short of ideas,
it is the mental discipline that matters the most. We are tired of summits and
are having ‘conference fatigue’,” he said.
“Twenty years ago, the 5 tallest
buildings were in the United States but as of today, just one of the tallest
buildings in the world is in the United States. China has three of the world’s
tallest building. This a reflection of the role design and planning plays in
economic growth.
“Today, China has an economy of
over 13 trillion dollars. China grew not just because of new ideas, but because
of mental discipline. The mental discipline is more important than physical
discipline. The thought process that goes into conceptualising and executing a
plan is very important. In the Nigerian economy, the things outside our control
are more than things within our control. When the institutions of conflict
resolution are broken, the alternative to what you have is anarchy.
“What we have control over are
our credibility and leadership. Social credibility over what we say is
important because talk is cheap. Credibility does not come from what we say but
what we do. The social contract between the rulers and the ruled is very
important as it’s so cheap to just talk than to act.”
He said people are not interested
in reasons for failure but how to celebrate success.
To move forward, the economist
said the country should “stop doing dumb things”, start doing smart things and
start doing modern things.
He said the economy will get
better with intellectual honesty and mental discipline.
“With mental discipline and
honesty, we will get a better economy. Success is imperative and cannot be
wished, it is a product of smart work. People are tired of being told one thing
and then seeing another. If what you see is different from what you feel, then
there is a problem of credibility,” he said.
He added that the word “hope” has
no place in strategy, and just because this country has come this far, failure
is no longer an option.
In September, President Muhammadu
Buhari appointed Rewane into the council set up to advise the president on
economic policy matters.
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