….Says Africa can turn supply chain disruptions, trade protectionism into opportunities for economic transformation
By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
ABUJA—Vice President Kashim Shettima, said, yesterday, that the courageous and unavoidable reforms being undertaken by the administration of President Bola Tinubu, which were currently fixing Nigeria’s structural weaknesses, were a proof of the power of political will in economic policy.
Accordingly, he called on African nations to embrace the knowledge economy, which is a bridge to transform the continent’s economic growth and development through productivity, beyond outdated explanations.
Shettima, who stated this during the opening session of the 66th Annual Conference of the Nigerian Economic Society, NES, in Abuja yesterday, noted that while Nigeria was not immune to the economic morass Africa had long been enmeshed in, the nation’s comforting prospect was that it currently had a President with a listening ear.
“Nigeria is, of course, not exempt from Africa’s economic tragedies. But our silver lining is the listening ear of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed 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.
“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 said.
VP Shettima stressed the need for African nations to get rid of the old-fashioned approach to their economy and embrace structural transformation if they must revive human capital challenges and reverse unemployment on the continent.
He said: “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 observed that though “geopolitical conflicts, trade protectionism, supply chain disruptions, energy transition, and the disruptive rise of artificial intelligence” may all seem like a threat to the continent’s economy, they were 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.
The VP also pointed out it was the mandate the annual conference of the Nigerian Economic Society, NES, had been given to find new pathways to solutions, while the nation awaits the recommendations.
The vice president noted while the Tinubu administration did not claim the ongoing reforms would be easy, it had always acknowledged the inflationary impact of the reforms as well as the “spillovers from global crises into our economy.”
This, according to him, explains why President Tinubu “has remained committed to investment-friendly measures and social protection programmes to cushion the vulnerable.
“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 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.
Earlier in his remarks, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu, applauded VP Shettima’s significant contributions in the realisation of the economic reforms of the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Bagudu assured NES that it would be fully integrated in all of his ministry’s programmes, especially the preparation and implementation of the development plan and the recently approved Renewed Hope Ward Development Programme.
Also, the Minister of Livestock Development, Alhaji Idi Mukhtar Maiha, presented potentials in Nigeria’s livestock sector, estimated at several billions of dollars, offering opportunities for economic diversification.
The minister expressed readiness to partner with 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.”
On his part, the President of NES, Prof. Adeola Adenikinju, reiterated the society’s commitment to collaborating with the Tinubu administration to actualise the goal of genuine economic transformation and national development.
He said NES, under his leadership, had undertaken reforms to reposition itself to act as “a bridge between research and policy, a centre for mentoring the next generation of economists, and a trusted partner in Nigeria’s pursuit of sustainable development and Africa’s transformation.”
On his part, the Director of African Development Institute, Dr. Eric Kehinde Ogunleye, said African Development Bank, AfDB, remained committed to the development of Africa and Nigeria, adding that “Nigeria occupies a strategic position in moving the African continent forward.”
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