If Nigeria were to be a company, by now it would have been under receivership for possible resuscitation, the former Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Economic Summit Group, Prof. Anya O. Anya, has said.
Anya, who stated this in Lagos, yesterday, while delivering the 21st Mike Okonkwo Annual Lecture, added that it would take a series of miracles for the nation to get out of the interwoven socio-political and economic challenges it has found itself.
This is just as the former Chief of General Staff, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe, called on clerics and religious leaders in the country to fervently pray for divine intervention.
Ukiwe, who was the chairman of the occasion, noted that having served in various capacities as a public officer, he could not recollect a period where the level of intolerance, division, and other negative forces were this high in Nigeria.
“My remarks are not influenced by any emotion or sentiments, but I am speaking from personal experience gained from serving this country in various capacities before and after independence. There is no time we have experienced this level of intolerance and, division among ourselves. Bishop Mike Okonkwo should liaise with other clerics and they should go on their knees to seek divine intervention in the affairs of this country,” he said.
Anya, whose lecture was titled “Nigeria: Culture, Values, Democratic Governance And Development,” noted that with the national debt being close to N50trillion, and national earnings not enough to service the huge debt, all indices of bankruptcy were already manifested in the economic life of the country.
“Unemployment is chasing the 40percent mark even as inflation rate is slowly inching upward towards the 20percent mark. The exchange rate has come from around N400 to a dollar to N700 to the dollar in less than two months. We now need trillions of naira to pay the so-called petroleum subsidy. If this were a private company, we would have called in the receivers because the case for bankruptcy is strong. Over the last seven years, our GDP has hovered between 2,3 or at most 4percent per annum.
For accelerated growth that would match population growth, we need a growth of 11percent in our GDP.
“Experience over the last 50 years has shown that it is possible for economies to grow on the fast track and double their GDP within a decade as Singapore, China, South Korea and Taiwan have been able to do in the last 30 years. This is why Singapore has the highest GDP per capita in the world, higher than the United States the largest economy globally,” he said.
He faulted the disharmony and the disequilibrium entrenched in the distribution of wealth that has driven many youths to drug abuse and crime.
On the security challenges facing the nation, Anya opined that the country is in a state of undeclared war and the major task should be how to secure the state.
“We need to recall and mobilise all the retired military and paramilitary personnel in our country. There are among them a reservoir of experience, expertise and patriotism that we can ignore only at our peril. We must also create an environment for enduring social and political harmony. The easiest path to that end is the immediate implementation of those aspects of the 2014 National Conference that have constitutional and long term policy impact,” he added.
He urged Nigerians not to be despondent, recalling that some of the nations of choice today like Dubai, Malaysia etc. were nowhere some regions in Nigeria in terms of economic development and growth in the First Republic.
He advised that Nigerians and their leaders only need to toe the path of patriotism, honour and self-sacrifice the leaders of those days followed.
In his remarks, the Presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM), Bishop Mike Okonkwo, who was celebrating his 77th birthday, said Nigerians should seek the face of God and live according to His will.
He noted that the challenges confronting the country were not insurmountable, but that the people should also be ready to do the needful.