Former CBN governor Prof. Chukwuma Soludo today:
“The new Buharinomics must articulate the five big ideas/programmes to drive the vehicle of change. Where are the iroko trees of the change mantra? Let me suggest that one of them should be a national emergency action on industrialization. Nigeria’s urbanization rate at 5.2% per annum is one of the highest in the world, and with a rapidly growing population and millions entering the labour market every year, creating value-adding jobs for these clustering urbanites will be a fundamental challenge. We must maximize the potential of every sector in job creation including the hitherto dormant solid minerals sector and agriculture. But the overarching emphasis of the APC manifesto on solid minerals and agriculture as its own ‘new economy’ is misplaced. An Igbo proverb says that a person who sells a dog and buys a cat still has a squatting animal in his house. Oil, agriculture and solid minerals are all primary commodities subject to extreme volatility. If job creation is the central objective, both sectors won’t deliver much over the medium term. Indeed, as we modernize agriculture and its productivity rises, total employment in the sector declines. Manufacturing and services remain the key for the future.”
