The NCC Chairman, Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye has stressed that the world is fast approaching the 4th Industrial Revolution, where Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things will take the front burner. He stated that his team at the NCC are already doing everything possible to ensure that, Nigerian youths are trained to take active participation in the emerging trend.
He expressed regret that subsequent governments failed to pursue the National Development plans introduced by the Gowon administration after the unfortunate civil war. He stressed that, continuing with the development plans would have rolled out an effective iron and steel template that would have set the industrialization of the country on a sound footing. He stated this at this year’s Bullion Lecture organised by the Centre for Financial Journalism, CFJ, on March 21, 2018 at the Civic Centre, V.I., Lagos. Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye chaired the event.
He stated that the topic of the lecture, Wealth of Nations and the Imperative of Ecnomic Transformation, is most appropriate for discussion and action in the present day Nigeria and in other developing economies.
This year’s The Bullion Lecture, the third in the series organised by CFJ, was delivered by Professor Kingsley Moghalu, OON, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
Professor Moghalu, in his lecture, gave five preconditions, which Nigeria must pass through to take it out of the path of poverty on to the path of prosperity, all of which, he stressed, are currently absent in the polity today. They are: A worldview and a philosophical foundation for the Nigerian State; An economic vision, founded on an economic philosophy that is aligned with the foundational world view; Science, technology and innovation, as the driver of the economy; Economic complexity (the manufacture and export of complex products; and Institutions. He emphasised the need to establish all these for the Nigeria state to start prospering.
In concluding his lecture, Prof. Moghalu, further recommended the following, to direct Nigeria back to the path of prosperity: The constitutional repeal of the Land Use Act that traps the wealth of Nigeria’s citizens in the choking grip of state bureaucracy; Scrapping of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, as we know it today and reforming it as a partially privatised company, so that it can start performing well like the NLNG; Avoid further foreign borrowing which has put Nigeria back into a debt trap that will weigh down the future if the country.
Earlier, Mr. Ernest Ebi, MFR, FCIB, the Chairman, Centre for Financial Journalism, and also a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in his welcome address, stressed that the Bullion Lecture has now become an annual intellectual forum, designed to provide unique opportunities to critically review issues of national interest, with a view to preferring solutions to problems.
Other discussants that participated in the lecture event include, Mr. Dele Afolabi, Director, Portfolio Management, Debt Management Office, who represented Ms. Patience Oniha, Director General, Debt Management Office, Mr. Obinna Onunkwo, Managing Partner, Purple Capital Partners.
The event was attended by captains of industry, top government officials, entrepreneurs as well as media executives and other members of the public.
