Nigeria’s Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has said the nation is on the path of taking its place among the comity of nations with various developmental programmes ongoing in different sectors of the economy.
Osinbajo made the assertion at the 2017/2018 50th Convocation Lecture of the University of Lagos on Monday in Lagos. The theme of the lecture is, “Nigeria Rising: The Path to Prosperity’’.
According to him, the most crucial pillar of any government’s economic policy should be the improvement of human resource.
“I suspect the topic, Nigeria Rising; the Path to Prosperity is informed by the curiosity of what people expect from President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in the next four years, or what “Next Level’’ really means.
“I therefore, think that I should begin by affirming that the Buhari administration believes that Nigeria’s prosperity means a decent existence for all, ending extreme poverty, increasing productivity and ending corruption.
“We believe in wealth creation system that is capable of taking millions out of poverty, while providing for those who cannot work,’’ he said.
He said that wealth creation options should include access to cheap credit, job schemes for the unemployed and cash transfers to the most poor and vulnerable.
The administration, he said, was working toward providing good healthcare and education that makes our workforce relevant in the knowledge economy.
“In plotting the path to prosperity, the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, we took into account the weaknesses of the Nigerian economy and the illusions that distort our real understanding of our economy.
“First is the focus on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth figures without the understanding of the underlying dynamics,’’ he said.
According to him, a total of 60 per cent of the country’s GDP figures depend on oil. The oil sector itself contributed 10 to 12 percent, while the rest is contributed by the non-oil sector.
Osinbajo said that between 50 and 53 percent depended on the oil sectors.
This, he said, meant that the country’s economy rested on a tripod, with two of the three legs depending on highly volatile oil prices and production.
“But we have to understand that high oil revenue does not equal better jobs or better human development indices.
“For example, the period of astronomical high oil revenues was when we had high level of poverty, infant mortality and unemployment.
“Our economy was also being run on a consumption growth model, which is only advantageous if consumption is being met by domestic production of goods and services.
“However, our consumption was being met by import, and thus, though the GDP was going up, more people were going into poverty,’’ he said.
According to the professor of Law, the only affluent people in the current economic dispensation were the professionals whom, he said, were able to plug into the rent seeking opportunities brought by high oil prices.
He noted that the average citizen could not because when the oil prices fall, not only does GDP fall, but the wealth of these affluent people is wiped out.
Osinbajo said that the place of corruption was also crucial, adding that the same oil earnings that was supposed to fund education, infrastructure and healthcare ended up in private pockets.
He added that the combination of theft of public revenues, the consequent failure to invest in infrastructures and the largely rent seeking business class was what accounted for Nigeria’s current economic situation.
Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, noted that the jubilee convocation would be well celebrated as the institution had recorded giant strides in the area of entrepreneurship, research and innovation.
Ogundipe assured Nigerians that before the end of the year, the institution would record an improved ranking.
MM/GIK/APA