Senior Special Adviser to the President, African Development Bank, Professor Oyebanji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, has said the poor political structure in the country has adversely affected its industrialisation.
Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, who led others to discuss the theme, “Engineering as the Key Facilitator of National Development Policies & Strategies for the Incoming Administration”, at the Academy of Engineering Public Forum, in Lagos, recently, said the country’s political system has stalled industrialisation.
“Political power, when not used correctly, will ruin every industrialisation in the country. So, we need an accountable government that respects the rule of law. In addition, we need good and transformational leadership.
“Any new administration coming in should be subjected to evaluation. So, there is a need for such evaluations so that we can know where we are going. My suggestion is that Nigeria should deliberately enter into long-term strategic partnerships”, he said.
Also, President, NAE, Prof. Peter Onwualu, said the academy’s approach to contributing towards solving the problem is not about cataloguing the problems, trading blames and comparing Nigeria with developed economies.
According to him, “It is also not about supporting any particular political party towards winning the election. It is not about debating the numerous development policies and programmes over the years and why they have not worked.
“It is not that these are not important but because as a think tank, we know that information on the above is already in the public domain as Nigerians do not lack expertise in analysing our problems as a nation.
“Our approach to solving the problem is to provide evidence, data, and knowledge-based advice on how the incoming administration can redirect Nigeria towards the path of progress.
“We have come to the conclusion that the missing link in Nigeria’s efforts at economic and human development in all sectors is engineering.”