Political economist and management expert, Prof.
Utomi, who spoke yesterday on the Morning Show of ARISE NEWS Channel, the broadcast arm of
According to him, "The Nigerian government is the reason businesses fail in
The biggest risk of doing business in
There is need to change the mindsets of those in authority, to realise that their duty is to facilitate, and not to bully."
Citing an article that was published on
"Let's leave foreign direct investment (FDI) for now because FDI can stimulate things, it is very important and very useful, but let's make capital at home, but the truth is that government is preventing capital from being made at home. And I don't think it's because they are wicked but because they are ignorant. So we have a joint lesson to educate each other on how we can build an economy and innovate. We cannot make progress without innovation, even though innovation is going to be difficult. Those who innovate are usually 10 steps ahead of those who regulate, because they know so much better than those who regulate," Utomi said.
Citing another example with
"I think that what we must do in this country is facilitate innovators because innovators are good in passing the risk to commercial banks. So, who is going to grow the economy, because those who have the ideas who will innovate are ahead of them, and the banks don't understand or don't want to be involved in innovation. I feel personally pained for the fight that some of us fought in the 80s, wishing the General Babangidas' of this world, to open up that space, because the bankers that came out of it are all those big men now extracting rent. The whole idea of the fight that some of us fought, and were called names in the 80s, was essentially meant to create a financial system that will drive growth and help this economy really come out of the situation it was in with an oligopolistic banking system, that did not really finance growth," Utomi said.
Addressing the issue about borrowing, Utomi said: "I agree that Western banks did not have moral integrity to press down on countries like
Speaking about governance, Utomi said part of his challenge with
He said he was involved in virtual meetings with a group in the United Sates of America, that wanted to focus on the fact that
"I keep saying that we don't have a national strategy. How do we grow this economy, when we keep throwing out numbers, and that's a problem because it's all nonsense.
Stressing the need for job creation in the country, Utomi commended the telecommunications sector that is being regulated by the
He advised government to focus on the country's endowment and develop them. "In North-central, there are sesame seeds, South-south, hydrocarbons value chains, South-west is cocoa. Government should be able to take those endowments, literally build economies around those endowments, basically through education and the economy of the country will develop faster and jobs will be created," Utomi further said.
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