Former governor of Ogun State, Chief Gbenga Daniel, on Friday night disclosed that wastage of Nigeria's natural and human resources was the major hindrance to economic growth in the country.
Chief Daniel equally blamed the managers of the country's economy as not doing enough to take the country out of its present sorry state.
The former governor, who made the disclosure when he was honoured with the highest award by the Chartered Institute of Economists during its 5th Fellow Chartered Economists Dinner Award of Fellow Night, held in Abuja, hinted that the institute was the hope of the nation since others had failed.
According to him, “the major challenge being encountered by Nigeria, a 52-year-old nation is mismanagement of our economy. As a two-term governor, I saw wastage in government circles. I have no doubt in my mind that until professional economists were given their pride of place, the country won’t move forward.
The question is: why then do we not have professional economists in key government circles?".
To this end, he restated that, "I've always said that until we economically manage our resources, the resources will never go round.” He cited instances in government circles where there were arguments on what should be done. “If we have 160million people and the national budget is judiciously used, I'm sure
Nigeria will solve her problems. If we manage our resources well, Nigeria shouldn't be a poor country,” he stated.
"We heard sometime ago that they wanted to extend the runway in the international airport. The amount which they budgeted was alarming. If this is the way contracts were run, as a country, we will not make progress. As economists, these are some of the issues you must look at", he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for reading this article. If you enjoyed it, please click any of the buttons above to share it. You can also make your comment below.