Nigeria’s economy has not progressed in 40 years – Sanusi

A former Emir of Kano, Khalifa Muhammadu Sanusi II, has said that Nigeria’s economy has not progressed in the last 40 years.

Speaking yesterday at the maiden edition of the Muhammadu Sanusi Colloquium, organised by friends and well-wishers to mark his 60th birthday, the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said the 50 per cent progress recorded in 35 years on the Nigeria’s gross domestic product per capital, has been reversed between 2014 and 2019.

He, however, said the poor economic state of Nigeria was responsible for 70 per cent of the challenges facing the country, especially banditry, kidnapping, as well as farmers/herders clashes.

Sanusi, who said he had been called many names and even paid the price for speaking up on the state of the nation, said he could not afford to be a conformist in a society that is so abnormal, as doing so means that things would not change.

He also blamed the security challenges of banditry and kidnapping on the ‘wrong social system’ adopted by people of the North, where he said, people had larger families than they could cater for. He added that children left uneducated and untrained had become problem to the region by engaging in drugs, stealing and kidnapping.

The Kaduna State governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, who extolled the former emir, described him as the most forthright friend anyone could have.

Governor El-Rufai narrated how they met as young undergraduates in the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, saying the former emir was outspoken in his views and clear about his future and aspirations.