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Waheed Olagunju, acting managing director/ CEO of Bank of Industry (BoI), says Nigeria has no other option than to become a productive economy through value-addition to agriculture and solid minerals.
“If we add value to agriculture and solid minerals, we will not have enough manpower to handle our potential,” said Olagunju, at the Business Hallmark’s Public Policy Forum held last Thursday in Lagos.
Olagunju explained that the current unemployment situation in the country was artificial as value addition could create unimaginable number of jobs for the citizens.
According to BoI’s helmsman, Nigeria failed to sustain many laudable development initiatives of the past, which had currently placed a huge burden on the citizens, adding that the population of Nigeria could either be an asset or liability, depending on the choice of the citizens.
“We once depended on Ghanaians to work in factories, but the situation has now changed,” he said.
“But we can relive that era. Now, we are faced with recession. Our survival instinct must come on board. We paid lip service to Operation Feed the Nation, the Structural Adjustment Programme, the Green Revolution and others, but the chicken has come home to roost. What is needed now is discipline. China got to where it is today because of discipline,” he noted.
He said Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) was growing at over 11 percent after the Civil War, but regretted that this was interrupted in late 1970s when leaders paid attention to oil boom at the expense of agriculture and manufacturing.
He hailed Ogun State’s investor-friendly policies, saying that Governor Ibikunle Amosun was the first chief executive of a state in Nigeria to sign a $1 billion MSME programme with the development bank, culminating in successful production of businesses that were internationally competitive.
Ibikunle Amosun, governor of Ogun State, said the south-west was once known for cocoa, while the south-east was a palm oil hub. The northern part of the country was also then known for groundnut pyramid, Amosu said, adding that the United Arab Emirates was able to utilise oil proceeds to build heavy infrastructure unlike Nigeria.
Amosun, who was represented by Olumide Ayemi, Ogun State commissioner for justice and attorney-general of the state, stated that Nigeria must look at industrialisation to achieve self-sufficiency and export to earn foreign exchange.
ODINAKA ANUDU
