Peter Obi lists three-way out of recession at GOCOP summit in Lagos
…Bankers’ Committee feels Nigeria may have exited recession in 2nd or 3rd quarter 2017
Successful development banker, economist and former governor of Anambra State, Dr. Peter Obi in Lagos on Thursday, crafted three strategic way-out of recession for the Nigerian economy.
This is as the Nigerian Bankers’ Committee; the same day after their meeting in Abuja, claimed that Nigeria may have exited recession given the analysis of emerging figures from several sectors of the economy including manufacturing, service sector and recent surge in foreign reserve.
But explaining ‘where went wrong over the years’ against the background of the theme; ‘Sustaining Growth through Diversification of the Economy’, at the first annual conference of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP), Dr. Obi averred that “Nigerian recession is lasting for too long because there is no deep savings in the past that can be injected to the economy for effective rebutting”.
He hinted that all these ongoing borrowing spree which are coming with dangerous Banana peelings can only, but help to drag further the excruciating recession and its attendant stress on the naira and economy at large.
In his lead submission, he said “only aggressive savings, diversifying the economy along the lines of the manufacturing sector by creating value added export in products, and tailored investments in developmental education can perform the magic of seamless exit from recession”.
Continuing, he revealed that in 1980, Nigerian economy has robust manufacturing sector which contributes well over 80 per cent to the Gross Domestic product (GDP) and decried that today, the reverse is the case due to poor planning and management of the oil boom which he said is gradually losing its validity.
He added that far back 1980s, Nigeria foreign reserve was far higher than those of India, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and so many other current world economic leaders today, “But today, while we move back and forth around $30bn, India is currently at $150bn, South Korea at $365bn, Thailand at $150bn and China is soaring above $3tn”.
“The magic is very simple. These now, successful nations started first with aggressive savings which Nigeria failed to do throughout till now.
“Now, after reaching a comfortable height in strategic savings, they began to diversify their economies into knowledge based export products, supported by deep manufacturing structures, deepened investments in infrastructure and education. These are what we currently require to do to key in again to the comity of real developing nations if we want to tell ourselves the truth.
Obi made it clear that “flying up and down to attract foreign investors may not work because we have not done the basics which include savings to grow micro economy which remains the strongest pull factor for deep pocket investors”.
Giving a strategic insight on why investment in education is very key, the former Governor of Anambra State averred that “By 2020, there will be over 20 million vacancies yawning for filling in Nigeria in the areas of information technology, industrial fabrication, manufacturing, and small and medium scale businesses”.
GOCOP is the national umbrella body for registered and recognized online publishers and founder/publisher of Business Hilights, Prince Stan Okenwa, is a member.
The conference was sponsored by a number of companies including Dangote group, Nigerian LNG and the attendance roll calls include the GOC, 82 Div of the Nigerian Army who made a presentation on the success story of the Army in fighting insurgency.
Others include the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, represented by the DG of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr. Bayo Onanuga, chief executive of Mutual Trust Insurance group who also made a presentation and a senior official of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) who represented the chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu.
Special guest of honour was the Presidential spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina. The event was held at the new Renaissance Lagos, Ikeja Hotel.
The conference closed with the inauguration of new GOCOP national executive council members.
