Two weeks ago, I attended the 30TH NIGERIAN ECONOMIC SUMMIT (NES) themed Collaborative Action For Growth, Competitiveness and Stability.
NES #30 was an world-class summit that had local and international attendees across private and public sector.
In this article, I have penned down 30 Insights From NES #30 which I consider worth-of-note to our leaders, as we journey through our current state towards national development and economic growth.
- Beyond plethora of policies, our government needs to be intentional about creating an enabling environment before any policy can positively impact the Nigerian masses
- Gender inclusion is fundamental to development. Any country (Nigeria inclusive) that leaves behind its women, is going to be leaving behind an average of 50% of its population
- For women inclusion (empowerment, better representation, protection, development) to be successful, we need to understand that it is beyond just benefiting women but enabling the whole society to be able to move forward
- While gender inclusion conversations should not be exclusive to the women gender; it is objective to note that Nigeria needs to pay attention to: better access for women around finance, healthcare, education, shelter and legal protection.?
- Both private sector and public service need to be intentional about tapping the potentials of women - by fostering development of women into leadership, supporting women-led businesses; and empowering women with income-generating vocational skills.?
- Culture and Religion are key factors that affect gender (women) inclusion. These factors interplay with historical, structural and systemic elements - that fester patriarchy / male misogyny.
- Successful implementation at subnational level is relevant, for country-wide adoption of key gender policies (example: Framework for advancing women literacy in Nigeria, National Gender Policy et al)
- Reform is never a 100 meters sprint, it is a marathon; and there is a price to pay for every journey of reform (my additional thought is that leaders in government must be at fore-front of making sacrifices and paying the price needed for reforms).
- Our leaders across all levels of government must be ready to lead by example; because the signal from leadership is always very important.?
- Ultimately, leaders in government should live their own reforms.?
- One of the fundamentals for economic growth is to improve the competitiveness of the economy.?
- To build prosperity for our country, leaders in government need to focus on the economic wellbeing beyond political differences.?
- Every country that has achieved / is achieving development, have been able to get one thing right - a common purpose that all key stakeholders in public and private sector commit to, irrespective of change in political administration?
- If we do not create a burning platform - sense of urgency; we may find our country at worse state than we currently are at?
- While the government needs to take institutional reforms seriously; it is key to note that we cannot have strong institutions without having strong individuals (my additional thought is that: institutional reforms or any other form of reform, will only be a reality when “rule of law” becomes sacrosanct in our country)
- Development for Africa is Development for all. The whole world has a stake in the success of Africa (my additional thought is that Nigeria, and by extension Africa; must also be intentional about having a stake in its own success)
- Our reality in Nigeria is that the “common man” does not have a buffer against bad policies from the government.?
- According to Indermit Gill, for Nigeria to move towards develop - policymakers need to do three things:?
- Prioritize non-oil growth
- Help every vulnerable household cope with inflation and high prices
- Make the economy more business ready
19. Transformation is possible, if Nigeria stays the course on good policies for a minimum stretch of 10-15 years - just as countries like India, Polan, South Korea and Norway have done - Indermit Gill
20. According to Indermit, 7 principles should guide our reforms;?
- Learn from past policy mistakes
- Let market determine the exchange rate
- Keep public debt sustainable
- Adopt oil-price-based fiscal rules
- Make accounting and allocation of oil revenues fully-completely-painfully transparent
- Devise a public investment program, that promotes the diversification of the economy
- Stay the course - to be able to reap the full dividends of good transformational reforms / policies
21. We all need to accept that over-dependence on oil has detrimental consequences on our desired development as a nation
22. Our country needs to lead efforts to ensure West African trade efficiency. Nigeria will benefit greatly from deeper trust and cooperation, between regulators (our’s inclusive) of various countries within our trade corridors?
23. Our data on Oil is skewed - there needs to be credible data across the value chain of Oil & Gas industry
24. Beyond attempting to push the Ease of Doing Business agenda, the government needs to find ways to incentivize SME entrepreneurs and also the informal sector of the economy.
25. Government needs to support SMEs because businesses build the community. When SMEs are successful, they create multiple jobs and and also serve as catalyst to other businesses within the environment they are located
26. If we cannot trade effectively within Nigeria, we will not have adequate capacity to trade competitively in the region and continent.
27. Fashion, Food processing and Tourism are some of the huge opportunities within Nigeria for budding and young entrepreneurs to take advantage of.?
28. According to JPMorgan CEO, exceptional leaders excel in three areas that are not exhaustive;
- Great decision-making - based on data / analysis / facts
- Administrative excellence - by being able to make systems better and effective
- People-centricity - through earning people’s trust and respect - (by having a heart that cares)
29. Stakeholders within the Policy ecosystem must embrace systems thinking to achieve sustainable outcomes.
30. Great nations don't only survive, great nations also thrive (my additional thought is that: no nation can thrive beyond the selfless / selfish level of its leaders)
It is my hope that our leaders will take to heart, some of the highlighted insights above; and commit to sustainable reforms that can enable our country achieve economic growth, that is possible when both vision and will to transform, is strong and lasting
Tayo Opatayo
Strategy | Leadership | Change
