NIGERIA NEWS | Economy Recession

 The state of any nation’s economy is a result of several variables. They include time, context, actors and even what happens beyond the shores of the country, that is, the international political economy. Currently, four challenges largely prevail. They include moving away from an oil-revenue economy for our public expenditure and foreign exchange earnings, transiting from the current subsistence farming to technology-driven agriculture, implementing consistent policies that make it easy to do business in the country and doing something urgent about the unemployed population of Nigerian youths.

  

Our economic challenges are multifaceted and cannot be assessed independent of governance variables – systems, structures and democratic processes – which are still struggling to gain identity and function appropriately. The subsisting political process makes it difficult for credible and honest people to offer themselves for public office. In addition to the process, we also have structural deficiencies of weakened governance institutions as a consequence of the personification of structures. Of equal importance is the responsibility of the citizens to hold officeholders accountable.

An ideal economic blueprint should challenge the conventional theory by recognising sustainable economic ideas that equitably meet human needs.

The key is to subject our policies to thorough and rigorous thinking based on our sociological environment, having consistency in implementation, regardless of government. We have witnessed policy reversals that have set us back for decades in terms of development. But the most important thing is for us to learn from past mistakes and apply learnt lessons to move forward.

The way forward is creating institutions of state, properly balanced in their authority and scope, so that we can ensure good governance. All thriving economies have the following similar traits: strong and effective institutions backed by legal frameworks that guarantee rule of law. – • Yinka Oyinlola (CEO, Nigeria Leadership Initiative)

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