Today marks the beginning of the 26th edition of Nigerian Economic Summit (#NES 26). This year’s theme ‘Building Partnerships for Resilience’ promises to galvanise the views of national and global policymakers, business leaders, development partners and scholars on better models for achieving strategic partnerships among the youth, governments, the private sector and the civil society to build a resilient economy and society for all Nigerians.
This year’s summit is unique, as it is happening at a time Covid-19 is ravaging global economy and worsening Nigeria’s economic fundamentals. Without doubt, the Nigerian economy is not in the best shape. It is hobbled by a 27 percent unemployment, 14.23 percent inflation rate, nearly 50 percent poverty rate and -6 percent economic slump.
Though Covid-19 is flagged as the major causation factor, there have been policy issues that needed to be tweaked in the light of globalisation and changing global dynamics.
#NES 26 is expected to deliberate on the way forward, with an eye on partnerships with all the stakeholders to achieve prosperity for majority of Nigeria’s 200 million people.
The summit will brainstorm on key issues affecting the economy, including policies of the government and private sector programmes, and proffer a way forward for each of the issues.
In the light of the recent #EndSARS protests that rocked the nation in October, #NES 26 will discuss various issues raised by young Nigerians and proffer suggestions to governments at all levels on how to meet their demands and avoid a repeat of the carnage done by hoodlums who hijacked the protest.
This explains the presence of Patricia Scotland, Commonwealth secretary, who will deliver a paper on ‘Empowering Our Youth.’ There will also be a session on ‘Attracting Foreign Direct Investments’ where leading speakers like Yewande Sadiku, executive secretary/CEO of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NIPC), and Oscar Onyema, CEO of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), will lead the pack. There will also be a panel that will focus on ‘Removing Data Barriers’ and it will be led by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, and Yemi Kale, CEO of the National Bureau of Statistics.
Furthermore, there will equally be various sessions that will discuss ways of bridging inequality gap and how to actualise a turning point for Africa’s most populous nation.
For the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, organiser of the two-day summit, this year itself presents a challenge but also an opportunity, as the summit is physical but also virtual, giving those who never participated due to physical absence the opportunity to hear from the best.
Since the inception of NESG in 1993, its flagship #NES conference has been far from a talk shop.
Discussions at the summit have formed policy thrusts and influenced government decisions for the better. The Pension Reform Act of 2014 is one of the laudable achievements of the summit. The Act replaced the unfunded and unsustainable Defined Benefits scheme with the Contributory Pension Scheme, which is now fully funded and ensures that money contributed into individual employees’ Retirement Savings Account (RSA) get to them as they retire.
The benefits of the Contributory Pension Scheme enjoyed by most Nigerians today could be attributed to the many years of advocacy done by NESG through #NES. The group had, before the pension reforms, advocated for an independent and sustainable scheme that would ensure that employees were not starved of funds at their retirement.
Today, the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) manage and invest employees’ funds in the RSA, from where the contributors draw benefits on retirement, in line with the provisions of the Act.
This is not the only major contribution of NESG and NES. The reform of the telecoms industry today was down to advocacies and participation by the NESG and its key members. Before the reforms, Nigerians had been stuck in the anachronistic and regressive Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), a monopoly that made access to communications difficult and expensive. It was then an exclusive preserve of the rich who could afford to intimidate the poor with telephones.
Though the government had enacted the Nigerian Communications Commission Act in 1992 which allowed new entrants into the telecommunications sector, it did not happen until NESG and other private sector groups mounted pressure on government. NESG, in its characteristic manner, campaigned for free market and fair play that would allow competition and prices to allocate telecoms services. Today, the results are here for everybody to see. The country has had MTN, Glo and other telecoms companies who have used communications services to improve lives, businesses and economy. When the MTN berthed in Nigeria, a pack cost over N25,000, but competition has brought it down to almost nothing today. It is now possible to get free SIM cards. The poor, the middle-class and the rich can afford recharge cards because they are now denominated in lower and higher currencies.
Moreover, the reforms Nigerian see in the petroleum and electricity industries today are products of NESG engagement with Nigerian leaders over the years.
In an interview with BusinessDay in 2016, Laoye Jaiyeola, CEO, Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), had argued that petroleum subsidy was a total waste of the country’s resources and that the country was only subsiding fuel for the rich with many cars and drivers. After many years of ignoring the calls for the removal of corruption-infested subsidies, which supposedly cost Nigeria N1 trillion annually, the present administration has granted it. The removal of the subsidies is among the best things to happen to Nigeria since its return to democracy in 1999.
Moreover, in 2003, NESG had a first-ever public debate on Public-Private Partnership for Infrastructural development with the support of UK Trade and Investment. The discussions and resolutions resulted in the Infrastructure Master Plan of 2015-2043, which, on paper, is among the best infrastructure policies in Africa.
Moreover, NESG contributed to the repeal and replacement of the Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Act of 1989 and Exchange Control Act of 1962 by the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission Act 1995 (later 2007) and Foreign Exchange Act 1995 (later 2007), respectively.
It is also on record that NESG championed a policy shift from state ownership and management of business to privatisation and competition across the economy to confine government to governance and leave business for the private sector. This led to the privatisation of previously government-owned enterprises such as paper mills, NITEL, steel plants, textile mills and many others. Some of the privatized firms are not performing as expected, but that is down to management, politics, policies and corruption, not basically privatisation. Only about 37 percent of 142 privatised enterprises were moribund as of 2018, according to Alex Okoh, director, Bureau for Public Enterprises.
The group has also called for the privatization or full concessioning of Ajaokuta Steel Complex and Aluminium Smelter Company to make them return to life. Moreover, the group is partly responsible for the establishment of Vision 2010 Committee which produced a comprehensive and well thought-out framework for economic development of the country.
It is also critical to note that NESG was part of Nigeria’s banking reforms which recapitalised deposit money banks, making them stronger and more responsible to their customers. Through the reforms, many backward-looking financial institutions in the country began a step towards becoming 21st century institutions. It is now possible to carry out remote financial transactions, use the automated teller machines (ATMs) and even do agency banking.
