Vice-President Kashim Shettima says the courageous and unavoidable reforms being undertaken by the administration of President Bola Tinubu are proof of the power of political will in economic policy.
Shettima stated this on Tuesday in Abuja during the opening session of the 66th Annual Conference of the Nigerian Economic Society (NES).
He called on African nations to embrace the knowledge economy, saying “it is a bridge to transform the continent’s economic growth and development through productivity beyond outdated explanations.”
According to the vice president, while Nigeria is not immune to the economic challenges Africa has long faced, the nation’s comforting prospect is that it currently has a President with a listening ear.
“Nigeria is, of course, not exempted from Africa’s economic tragedies, but our silver lining is the listening ear of His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu.
”Under his leadership, this administration has embarked on bold and inevitable reforms to address structural weaknesses that others before us only paid lip service to.
“These reforms testify to the power of political will in economic policy. Their painful but necessary consequences remind us that a malignant disease can only be cured by painful surgery.
“The wounds are temporary, but the recovery is permanent,” he stated.
Shettima emphasised the need for African nations to abandon their outdated economic approach and adopt a structural transformation if they are to address human capital challenges and reverse unemployment on the continent.
” We live in a world where a random citizen in Daura can outsource his services to a corporation in Dallas without seeing the inside of a plane or leaving his bedroom.
“But to catch up with this changing world, Africa must embrace structural transformation that reinvents its human capital and reverses unemployment.
“Poverty must be confronted head-on for the promise of this continent to be realised in the lives of our people.
“There is no justification for the low per capita income that afflicts our nations amidst the resources at our disposal,” he said.
Shettima observed that, though geopolitical conflicts, trade protectionism, supply chain disruptions, the energy transition, and the disruptive rise of artificial intelligence may all seem like threats to the continent’s economy, they are opportunities in disguise.
“They all paint a gloomy outlook, but each threat is also an opportunity in disguise.
“This is why a society such as yours exists: to light the path of a continent even in the darkest night,” he explained.
Shettima pointed out that it is the mandate given to the Annual Conference of the Nigerian Economic Society to “to find new pathways to solutions,” while the nation awaits the recommendations.
“Policies in transportation, healthcare, and education have been deliberately targeted at reducing inequality because these are the sectors that affect the weakest among us,” he added.
The Vice President commended the President of the Nigerian Economic Society, Prof. Adeola Adenikinju, and his team for challenging the nation to reflect on what decades of policy failures and vulnerabilities to global risks have created for Africa.
“I urge all participants to take their role in this conference not as a scholarly exercise but as a continental and national assignment—one expected to salvage Africa’s economies from their fragile status,” he stated.
In his remarks, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Alhaji Abubakar Bagudu, applauded Shettima’s significant contributions to the realisation of the economic reforms of the President Tinubu administration.
Bagudu assured the NES that it would be fully integrated into all of the ministry’s programmes, especially the preparation and implementation of the development plan and the recently approved Renewed Hope Ward Development Programme.
Additionally, the Minister of Livestock Development, Alhaji Idi Maiha, highlighted the potential in Nigeria’s livestock sector, estimated at several billion dollars, offering opportunities for economic diversification.
He expressed readiness to partner with the NES to brainstorm on the “brilliant ideas” needed to implement President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda for the livestock sector, which he described as “the next crude oil.”
The President of the NES, Adenikinju, reiterated the society’s commitment to collaborate with the Tinubu administration to actualise the goal of genuine economic transformation and national development.
He said the NES under his leadership has undertaken reforms aimed at repositioning the body to act as “a bridge between research and policy.
He added that the reforms have transformed the society into a modern, inclusive, and globally connected professional body, while preserving its core identity as Nigeria’s foremost economic think tank.
The Director of the African Development Institute, Dr. Eric Ogunleye, stated that the African Development Bank remains committed to Africa’s and Nigeria’s development.
He stated that “Nigeria occupies a strategic position in moving the African continent forward.”
Ogunleye commended the Tinubu administration for its bold reforms aimed at achieving structural and economic transformation as well as inclusive growth.
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