Former governor of the Central Bank Governor, CBN, Muhammad Sanusi II, has emphasised the need for Nigeria to take economic diversification more seriously in order to experience growth and development.
As guest speaker at the ongoing Kaduna Investment Summit, Sanusi observed that Nigeria’s over-reliance on oil had made it unproductive.
“We were growing but we did not diversify and that explains the huge levels of poverty in the country, it explains the huge levels of inequality in the country, it explains the vulnerability of the economy to shocks, it also explains the relatively slow pace of growth because when Malaysia started, they started from a GDP per capita level lower than Nigeria’s GDP per capita in 1985. It started from $310 to $4,045 while we started from $345 to $2,055.
“One way to look at it is to understand the difference between production and consumption,” he said, adding that “electricity per capita is such a critical determinant for moving people out of poverty.”
Also Vice-Chairman of the Kaduna Investment Promotion Agency, Sanusi noted that Nigeria could become producers of technology.
“We need to think over and over again as to how we understand economics and what we see. How do we understand technology or electricity are we consumers or are we producers and that’s why investment in human capital is so important.
“Produce young men who know that they are worth more than just using their phone to import a pair of shoes,” he said.
