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The 16th Nigeria Economic Summit (NES 16) ended on a high last Thursday. Participants from across all sectors of the economy, private and public, converged on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja for to discuss a common national concern: “Nigeria at 50: The Challenge of Visionary Leadership and Good Governance”.

Specifically, the summit was to help identify the connection between politics and economy, and how it affects Nigeria’s attempt to emerge as a strong, prosperous nation; encourage debate on the country’s leadership challenge and set an agenda for transformation and change; develop ways to realise the vision of becoming one of the world’s 20 leading economies by 2020, as well as awaken the consciousness of the people to their responsibility as good citizens.

At the presidential policy dialogue session, President Goodluck Jonathan identified greed as the greatest challenge the country is facing, pointing out that his dream is “to build a system where people would be less greedy” and “a nation that all Nigerians would be proud of”.

No youth, No vision 20-2020

At the Emerging Leaders forum, the consensus emerged that Nigeria cannot achieve its Vision 20-2020 objectives if the youth are not encouraged to be involved in productive work, and to build their character and value system on trust and sound moral principle.

For youth to dream audacious dream, participants emphasised the significance of role models in the present leadership. People who are expected to lead by example as well as ensure that they bequeath to the next generation and educational system that will enable them drive and live their dreams.

The submission of most of the discussants was that the current 6-3-3-4 educational system should be reviewed and that a reliable electoral system should be established, and corruption tackle. Most discussants also said the rule of law should be promoted.

“To inspire the youth to dream audaciously and come to terms with reality, meritocracy should be the principle in our educational system by ensuring that only the best and brightest excel, while entrepreneurship should be included in the nation’s educational curriculum. Building strong men without strong institutions will not lead the country anywhere. We should address the values among the youth by cultivating in them a sense of dignity in labour,” Fela Durotoye said.

Sector leaders appraise performance

At the oil and gas dialogue, stakeholders expressed concern that the delay in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) as a result of disagreements on the provisions between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and multinational oil companies was taking a negative tolls on the economy, with oil production declining from an average of 4-5 per cent in 2004 to about 2per cent at the present.

The consensus was that there will be no new investment in the industry unless there is stability and certainty in the investment terms contained in the proposed petroleum law.

The way forwards was that all stakeholders must resolve to come together and dialogue on areas of conflict in the PIB to ensure that the final document will serve the general interest of stakeholders.

No credit for job done

At the financial regulators forum, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Sanusi Lamiso Sanusi, observed that Nigeria has done more, in terms of enforcement of guidelines and regulation among operators of the financial system, than it has been credited for. He noted that though most advanced countries lost huge sums of money as a result of the manipulation of the system, no culprit has been sent to jail.

“We have removed eight executives of banks. We have put one of them in jail. We are going to (get) more of them in jail. We have 260 people before Investments and Securities Tribunal. Nigeria has done more to hold people individually accountable than any country in the world,” he said.

World class capital market

The Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Arunma Oteh, acknowledged that the capital market is an enabler for any economy, and that the challenge is to build a world class capital market which has the highest level of integrity – one in which investors will feel confident and protected.

Mrs Oteh said the Commission is committed to building a capital market where investors will know that their decisions or consequences of their decisions are not based on issues of market abuse, and that investors are protected against anything that happens, whether it be global financial crisis.

Helping people accumulate resources

For Muhammad Ahmad, the Director General, National Pension Commission (PENCOM), the focus has been to help the people accumulate resources, so that they will have some savings, which they will have access to when they retire. He said as at the end of September, 2010, about $14billion has been accumulated by contributors in the last three to four years for that purpose.

At the close of the summit, Director General, NESG, Frank Nweke, said participant identified lack of clear political ideology, vision and will of successive governments as reflected in inconsistent policies, and disjointed planning in the last 50 years of the country’s independence as bane to national development and growth.

He said apart from the existence of a disconnection between leaders and the people, there exists a culture of impunity in the polity, gross abuse of the rule of law as well as high level of incompetence as a result of lack of preparedness by successive leaders for the challenges of the positions.

Call for credible leadership

The majority of participants at the summit said inorder for the country to have credible leadership, the three tiers of government should uphold the rule of law, and that judicial procedures should be simplified to guarantee speedy administration of justice.

“Government must create a rallying point for citizens to buy into the Vision 20-2020; deliver set targets in the next 12 months in the areas of power generation, deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry, commence education reform process; ensure sustained economic growth to create employment; address the security challenge and conduct credible elections in 2011,” participants said.

At the close of the summit, President Jonathan, who was represented by the Minister of Finance, Segun Aganga, reminded participants that all Nigerians are leaders, irrespective of whether they are in government or not.

“It is our country; it is our economy. We have a shared responsibility for the failures of the past. When we talk about failure of leadership, all Nigerians have failed. It is time we took action. Government will provide the enabling environment, but the private sector has to take leadership,” he said.