Soludo Proffers Solution To Nigeria’s Economic Challenges

A former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, has called for a coalition of economic policies that can deal with desperate socio-economic issues in a systematic and sustainable manner for the country to overcome its present challenges.
The former CBN Governor stated this in his lecture at the Progressive Governors Forum’s 4th‎ progressive governance lecture series in Kaduna State on Thursday.

According to him, the crash in the oil prices is a blessing for Nigeria to start a new beginning and a clarion call to press the restart button and begin afresh.
Delivering a lecture titled; “Building the Economy of States: Challenges of Developing Inclusively Sustainable Growth”, Mr. Soludo said, Nigeria at the moment, is dealing with political, economic and social shocks.
He stressed that growth in Nigeria and states will not be inclusive if we don’t break the dynasties of poverty and maximize the comparative and competitive ‎advantages.
He noted that no state can develop sustainably if the overall governance and economy are in crisis, adding that the Nigerian economy in terms of dollar, has collapsed by about 50 percent.
“Nigeria is facing unprecedented and tremendous political and economical challenges with global and local dynamics. Regardless of these challenges, opportunities and possibilities abound if we address some fundamental issues. The key to achieving this is to have a development plan that is anchored on realizing inclusive and sustainable growth.
“Inclusive and Sustainable growth cannot be achieved without conscious efforts to deconstruct the dynasties of poverty and maximize states and Nigeria’s comparative and competitive advantage.
“Nigeria is not secured and made politically sustainable especially through the de-strangulation of the hold of the federal government over states”.
Prof. Soludo, therefore, recommended the restructuring of the economy from consumption driven to production based and consistency in micro economic policies.
“‎Encouraging fiscal federalism in ways that allow states to have greater control of their resources, evolution of a master plan for mass export oriented industrialization that answers the economic questions and realities of today.
“APC developing over-arching vision of Nigeria without Oil and‎ there should be a coalition of economic policies that can deals with disparate socio-economic issues in a systematic and sustainable manner;
“APC States must develop a peer review mechanism to track, measure and share knowledge and experience in order to achieve shared values that will distinguish APC states from non APC states.
“There is need for communication strategy that effectively communicates change in a forward looking and inspiring manner for the citizenry. This is important for building consensus for development, and‎ there should be a coordinating mechanism for developing the 2017 budget”, Soludo said.