Nigeria Doing Little To Diversify Economy -Utomi

Pat Utomi, a professor of political economy and management expert, has condemned past and present leaders of Nigeria for not making any efforts towards diversifying the economy.

He warned that the country might be on its way to doom if the leaders of the country continue the heavy dependence on crude oil.

Sharing his thoughts during the launch of the ‘Rebuild Nigeria Initiative’ in Abuja, the professor explained further that crude oil is a finite resource.

His words: “Unfortunately, we’ve done very little in that direction and it has assumed a new urgency because the world is going through an energy transition. We have forgotten that crude oil is a finite resource. In 10 to 12 years from now, as close as that is, few cars will run on petrol. We’ve to put our hydrocarbons endowment to other kinds of uses.”

He called on the Federal Government to take a cue from Botswana and other countries with better economies that have massively invested in their youths.

He explained that the youths are the major drivers of the economy in any country but insisted that Nigeria has failed to invest in it’s youth.

He specifically said Botswana became the fastest growing economy in the world between 1968 and 1980 because the country invested revenue realised from diamonds in its youths.

He said: “This year, about $4 billion of investments are expected to come to Nigeria’s tech space which is dominated by youth.

“They are the ones holding the economy right now, they’re doing it in Nollywood. They’re doing it with the music industry. Just imagine that we put a cost on them, that we treated them like the kings that they deserved, and really deserved to be treated.

“Imagine, If we had invested massively in their education and put other things in place for their things will work well. We’ve got to stop politicians from taking advantage of this easy money that comes into the treasury. We should do things like Botswana did. Botswana, from 1968 to 1980, was the fastest growing economy in the world, essentially from diamond exports.

“What did Botswana do, they saved most of that money and put it in a future fund because they realise that all Botswana’s born 200 years from now have as much as share of it, as they will live today. And they continue to produce. So, we’ve not done that in Nigeria. What we have are very ambitious elites that’s rushing to buy private jets.”