Nigeria’s oil-based economy on verge of collapse – Sanusi

Former Central Bank (CBN) Governor and immediate past Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, on Friday said the Nigerian economy is about to collapse totally as he warned that oil which he described in parable as the goose laying the ‘golden egg’ for the country is about to die.

Sanusi who spoke at the closing of the Kaduna Investment Summit, tagged KadInvest 6.0 said aside the fact that Nigeria is having difficulties in oil production, the product is now being rejected in the global market, as there is no longer a future in carbon.

The former CBN governor who pointed out that the future lies in knowledge based economy, which is the theme of the summit, however lamented that Nigeria is behind many African countries in innovation index and ranking 114th globally.

He lamented that while Ghana with a smaller economy invests more in education, Nigeria spends only seven percent of its budget in that direction, saying that, only eight of every 100 Nigerians who start primary school, complete university education.

According to him, “globally, work is being redefined. 30 to 40 per cent of workers in developed economies will need to significantly upgrade their skills by 2030. And what are the major drivers of this redefinition? ICT and remote working, which we have seen even here with COVID. There is increased automation and artificial intelligence. Very soon, robots will take over work in most countries and those who would have jobs are those who operate the robots or manufacture the robots or service the robots.

“And you have decarbonisation. For us in Nigeria, the enclave economy that we have, the so-called goose that lays the golden egg is about to die. There will be no eggs. The future is not in the carbons.

“A few months ago, Germany was able to produce enough renewable energy for the entire country’s needs. Today, we are having difficulties selling Nigerian oil. So, not only are we having problems to produce, even when we produce, the market is not there.

“So, this is forcing a change, and for us as a country that depends on oil, things need to change.

“Nigeria is ranked 114th in the global innovation index. We are lower than other African countries such as Kenya, Rwanda and Senegal. We are in fact ranked 14th in sub-Saharan Africa. I think we should have this reality check and know where we are as a country. Let’s stop calling ourselves the giant of Africa, because we are the giant with clay feet.

“Countries like Kenya, Rwanda and Senegal are ahead of us. I am not even talking about South Africa. Our expenditure on education is only seven per cent of the budget. We are spending less on education than Ghana; I am not talking about as per percentage of the budget; in absolute terms, even though the Ghanaian economy is much smaller than the Nigerian economy, even though the Ghanaian government revenue is less than Nigeria’s revenue, Ghana is spending more on education than Nigeria.

“And we are surprised that industries are moving to Ghana. We are surprised that the Ghanaian president has become the leading President in Africa? We are not investing in education and human capital.

“We have a 68 per cent missing job requirement and the major areas being IT, communication and decision making. And the completion rate between entry into primary one and completing university is eight per cent, meaning that out of every 100 pupils who go into primary school, only eight come out of university. And out of those eight, nine percent, which is one of the eight, will get a job.

“So, this is the reality in addition to what is happening globally. Now, digitization to level the playing field is required if we are deliberate and we shift from consumption to value creation. But, part of our problem is that even when we have the solution at our feet, we do not take it,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Kaduna State government said it will be introducing ICT skills in vocational institute and also in primary and secondary schools across the state

Governor Nasir El-Rufai in an interview at the summit said his administration believes that the future of jobs in the world today will be digital. “So everyone needs digital skills and we intend to provide that and we have an agreement with IHS to cover Kaduna with 3g and 4g network so that everyone will have access to the internet,” he said.