BEVERLY HILLS, AUGUST 25, (THEWILL) – A former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo has posited that states should have greater control of their resources in response to the unprecedented and tremendous political and economic challenges facing the country.
Delivering the lecture titled; ‘Building the Economy of States: Challenges of Developing Inclusively Sustainable Growth,’ at the Progressive Governors forum 4th progressive governance lecture series, the former CBN Governor 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 get out of the present challenges.
He added that Nigeria at the moment is dealing with political, economic and social shocks, stressing 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.
Soludo declared that the collapse 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 asserting that no state can develop sustainably if the overall governance and economy are in crisis, adding that Nigeria economy in terms of dollar has collapsed by about 50 percent.
“Nigeria is facing unprecedented and tremendous political and economic challenges with global and local dynamics. Regardless of these challenges, opportunities and possibilities abound if we address some fundamental issues,” he said.
“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.”
“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.”
Story by David Oputah
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