Nigerian Economic Requires Adequate Legislation For Development – Dare Eluyemi

Nigerian Economic Require Adequate Legislation For Development –  Dare Eluyemi 

A consultant on youth and children Affairs Entrepreneur/ Human resources manager,  Comrade Dare Eluyemi has said Nigerian economic requires adequate legislation for proper  development and to break out of weak economic performance and deepening poverty the country is facing. 

He  said adequate legislation is also needed in order for development to have its course in the country (Nigerian) mostly  in the area of policy formulation and implementation. 

Dare stated this in  his speech title ”  Role Of Youths In Strengthening Democracy ” deliver at the 2018 National legislative conference at Obafemi Awolowo University. 

The motivation speaker noted that the country cannot grow with words of mouth saying  that the country is endowed with resources required for  her to defeat unemployment, hunger, disease,  poverty and inflation. 

”Nigeria is in need of a profound economic transformation. When a country possesses the extensive human and capital resources that Nigeria does and its poverty rate has doubled from 1980 to 2005, there is something profoundly wrong about the conduct of its economic affairs. 

; preventing conflict; fostering sustained economic growth; and combating global threats. He identified the threats as health pandemics, climate change, food insecurity, narcotics trafficking, and maritime security. Several of his remarks resonate strongly in Nigeria: “Fifty years after most African states achieved their independence; the continent is still striving to realize its enormous potential and to play a more significant role on the world stage.” Other comments he made are equally pertinent: “Africa’s economic potential is vast and its importance as a trading partner will continue to grow…especially in the area of hydrocarbons”. 

“We must place renewed and sustained emphasis on Africa’s agriculture sector…” “To spur development, create jobs and end hunger, we must help Africa transform its farming sector to achieve a green agricultural revolution.” The only occasion in which Ambassador Carson specifically mentioned Nigeria in his statement was when he discussed the advances and setbacks in democratization in Africa. He then referred to the “deeply flawed elections in a number of countries, including Kenya, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe.”

There  has been numerous papers, research and studies on Nigerian economy and literature has stressed the wealth of resources Nigeria is endowed with. However, there seem to be few studies and literature with emphasis on the potency of adequate legislation in achieving development in Nigerian economy.

 It is obvious that maximum attention has not been given to the importance of legislation.

Nigerian economy requires adequate legislation in order for development to have its course especially in the area of policy formulation and implementation.

” Nigeria is endowed with resources required to make her defeat unemployment, hunger, diseases, poverty and inflation, however, the case has been the other way round because of lack of effective and efficient legislation to drive conversion of natural resources into values that will enhance development of lives.

 With adequate legislation, our agricultural sector can be transformed, education can be revamped, and other economic sector can become better and productive. 

 This implies that legislation must be in place in order to achieve equality and bridge the gap between the rich and the poor among others. 

”We are indeed are at our lowest ebb but conversely, as we try to escape our economic woes and kick start growth, a timely opportunity to re-shape our policies and regulations presents itself.

In Nigeria the usual point of reference is 2020 along with the curious notion of 20-2020 which refers to Nigeria’s aim to join the twenty countries with the largest economies by that date. It is unlikely that Nigeria will leapfrog over more than twenty countries that are ahead of it in the next eleven years. More realistically, we should speak of 2030 as a target year for Nigeria to have made substantial progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (officially slated for 2015), and more pertinently, to have undergone the transformations needed to 

I certainly believe that law reform and economic development are intertwined and this is the time for the Government to take advantage of the opportunities to build strong institutions. Only recently a major milestone was recorded when the Senate passed the Nigerian Railway Corporation Act 1955 repealed and enacted as the Nigerian Railway Authority Bill, 2016. 

The entire process of the bill took over 10 years but was thankfully accelerated by the comprehensive review contained in the Institutional, Regulatory, Legislative & Associated Instruments Affecting Businesses in Nigeria Report by Prof. Paul Idornigie, SAN and his team through the DFID ENABLE 2 programme. It is however hoped that it will go through the House of Assembly swiftly.

 Also another legislative achievement was the passage of the not too young to run bill which appears to be the beginning of revolution.

For Nigeria to break out of its decades of weak economic performance and deepening poverty, leaders must emerge in many sectors determined to have a transformative impact.

 Nigeria is blessed with a federal system that has created, as I have elsewhere stated, 811 units of governance at the federal, state, and local levels.

 Despite its shortcomings, the federal framework is a vital one and can facilitate innovative economic and political actionolen much of our collective wealth and left us with little to fight our massive poverty.

 They have not created a united country which is the basic thing you need for development. They have failed to give us appropriate infrastructure fit for economic  competition in a globalized world. They have not even given us the level of peace and stability needed to attract sufficient foreign investment that will spur our development. They have not managed to diversify our economy despite the billions they have earned from oil. 

The touchstone for economic policy is whether it allows the average Nigerian to find good employment and see their incomes rise. We want to grow the economic pie, but we want to make sure that prosperity is spread across the spectrum of regions and occupations and genders and ethnic groups. Economic policy should focus on growing the pie, but it also has to make sure that everybody has opportunities in that system. There are economic advantages that come from transparency, openness, and the reliability of our markets. 

”A new economic foundation for Nigeria will require better schools, alternative energy, more affordable energy, and a better regulated financial sector. There is an unsustainable feel about what has happened in our economy over the past ten or fifteen years.

”I would like to see us build a smart power grid which would be a big project similar to our interstate road system, but we lack enough workers with the necessary technical skills.

We have to improve our educational system and make sure that what is learned at secondary and university level is more robust and effective. 

Youths must acquire the kinds of skills that will make them competitive and productive in a modern, technological economy. All students should receive some technical training if we aim to compete successfully in today’s global economy.