4th Progressive Governance

Lecture Series

Theme:

Building the Economy of States: Challenge of Developing Inclusively

Sustainable Growth

A FRAGILE STATE WITH A

FAILING ECONOMY: MAKING

PROGRESSIVE CHANGE WORK

FOR NIGERIA

• A SUMMARY NOTE OF PROFESSOR CHARLES SOLUDO’S PRESENTATION AT THE 4TH PROGRESSIVE GOVERNANCE LECTURE SERIES

- Governor Ibikunle AMOSUN

The Thesis

• 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

Issues and Challenges • The global is unraveling and the burst might be there for a

while economy;

• Realities in the Nigerian economy as marked by localized trapped economies plagued by terrorism, kidnapping, militancy and other social vices;

• Failure in building a national consensus for development;

• Burst of consumption based and dysfunctional diversified economy occasioned by the fact that we bypassed competitive industrialization;

• Rapid urban growth;

Issues & Challenges Cont’d • Inequality especially as marked by poverty trap -

galloping divide between the “have” and “have nots”;

• Contraction of our GDP;

• Nominal and real wage compression;

• Massive capital flight;

• Electoral cycle that puts pressure on elected public officials to deliver in the short term thereby endangering long term planning

Thanks for participating

Recommendations • Restructuring of the economy from consumption driven to

production based;

• Consistency in micro economic policies;

• 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

Recommendations Cont’d • From the APC perspective, 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;

Recommendations Cont’d

• There should be a coordinating mechanism for

developing the 2017 budget;

• There is need to fully resource and

institutionalize the Progressive Governors

Forum secretariat for global best outreach,

peer review mechanism and lesson sharing.