Professor Soludo

Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, a former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, spoke on 1 October, Nigeria’s 59th independence anniversary on how Nigeria could be economically great without oil. He delivered a speech at The Platform, entitled “Re-Designing the Nigerian Economy with New Ideas”; at The Covenant Place, Beside the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos. Other economic analysts and experts who were there also were: Bismarck Rewane, Anik Peter, Peter Gregory Obi, former Anambra State Governor; Leading expert on Strategy, Globalization and Emerging Markets, Dr. Anil Gupta and others.

Here are 17 take-away quotes from Soludo’s long treatise:

1. “Let Zamfara keep their gold and pay taxes to the government. Let Kaduna and Kogi keep their solid minerals. Most states have their own resources. Concentrating power in Abuja won’t help us develop our resources.”

2. “Abuja has sought to keep everybody in check, but has succeeded in holding everybody down.”

3. “If the problem is the word ‘restructuring’ let’s call it something else.”

4. “Institutions drive economic transformations. Sadly, our institutions are either obsolete or inappropriate. The current institutions need fundamental overhaul.”

5. “Nigeria needs to invest in the Judiciary. Our Judiciary should be part of our national brand. Let’s do what it takes to become a nation of laws. Can we at least target to have the best judiciary in Africa?”

6. “Abuja cannot pay its bills. We have to get to serious work. Abuja, as it is today, is choking.”

7. “Peasant agriculture has little future.”

8. “The future will be driven by people, our youths and technology. The next biggest earner for Nigeria will be its human capital. But we are not going to export illiterates.”

9. “The systems, the institutions that we have are for a bungalow. And the new economy that we want to build is a 100-storey building.”

10. “The world is not waiting for Nigeria. While electric cars are fast replacing petrol cars, many of our people are still building petrol stations.”

11. “We need a new national business model.”

12. “A wise man gets the umbrella ready before the rain starts.”

13. “If you want to change a persistent economic structure, change the underlying institution.”

14. “What is fundamentally wrong is we have implemented all kinds of plans, all designed to diversify the economy. But we are still tied to the life-support of the oil sector. Every govt. in Nigeria has implemented its own version.”

15. “Politics is too serious to be left to those who call themselves ‘politicians’. It is our collective destiny. Unfortunately our politics is broken.”

16. “Are we preparing enough to welcome the 400 million Nigerians in 20 years time or the 800 million Nigerians in 40 years time?”

17. “In my view, sooner or later, something will give. And a new kind of politics will emerge to secure the future. Beyond sloganeering we have serious work to do.”

Here is the full speech of Soludo