For the past two decades, Nigeria has been grappling with a mix of successes and setbacks in her economic development. Politically stable to some extent, experts maintain that one of the critical factors that would undermine this potential is inconsistency in policy. As different stakeholders have pointed out, all that has been lacking in driving sustainable Economic Development in this country is coherence. Niyi Yusuf, chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), emphasized the effect policy inconsistency had on the Economy during the ‘National Economic Dialogue’ in Abuja.
According to him, despite the country notching up progress in a number of sectors – in sectors such as telecommunications, agriculture, and services – this progress is at best moderated by the unpredictable policy environment. It is these inconsistencies in economic policy that have meant the survival of high costs of doing business that businesses pass on, but citizens continue to suffer since economic policies further heighten the cost of living. These problems remain pervasive, alongside poverty, unemployment, and Corruption which has remained a canker for the country due to an unstable policy environment.
Focus on key areas needed and governance gaps fixed.
Yusuf noted that if Nigeria were to build the kind of economy that is resilient and has a chance to take off, the country has to turn its attention to priority areas such as economic diversification, Investment in people, security, infrastructure, good governance, and transparency as a step in the right direction. This will require more than a shift of mind at policy level but a deliberate effort in attempting to remove deep-rooted systemic problems that have characterized the country for so long.
Experts consider one of its weak components to be the governance deficit that has been carried over all these years. Without good governance, there is the likelihood that policies, though well-designed, may not be well implemented. Most of the time in Nigeria, very promising initiatives are abandoned due to lack of continuity and consistency in policy implementation. This has created an environment where businesses and Investors remain very reticent in making long-term commitments because any new administration might also signify changes in policy.
Nigeria’s $33k per capita by 2030 goal faces hurdles.
He remarked that efforts have been made through several measures to address this, but Nigeria could not attain the level of Economic Growth it had hoped for. He said the current rate of per capita income of $33,000 by 2030 can only make it harder and harder to head in that direction. Enormous economic achievements can only be made with cooperative work by all levels of government and disciplines, teamwork until recently unfound, according to him. Inclusive growth is another convergence area in policy. With the continuous battle for socio-economic challenges in Nigeria, there is a need to ensure that the sharing of economic benefits in a country is very pressing.
In that effect, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to the President, emphasized the importance of national unity in achieving economic prosperity. He was of the opinion that if the rising challenges being determined by the nation were to be overcome, then every individual in the country needed to be fully participating in the affairs of the nation and that development called for an enabling environment for innovation, entrepreneurship, and investment, which is hard to achieve without a stable and predictable policy environment.
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The underlying causes of this policy inconsistency should now be looked into if the country has to build a sustainable economic future. This requires governance improvements, among which are the need to structure and formulate long-term objectives of policies. In analysts’ view, Nigeria can be well rehearsed in improving its economic planning to a more holistic one in which the different interrelationships between the sectors align and call for continuity in policy implementation. As a matter of fact, there should be continuous consultations through the sharing of information by the government and the private sector, civil society, and international partners. It is this collaborative approach that might provide a more stable environment for economic growth and thus better outcomes for all Nigerians.