NBCC: Nigeria Must Look Inwards to Address Critical Challenges

In full support for the policies of the US President, Donald Trump, which seeks to close borders against migrants and focus on how to liberate the US economy, the President of the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC), Adedapo Adelegan has called on the federal government to begin to look inwards and close her borders to other African countries, in other to address the decay in the country’s infrastructure and educational system.

Adelegan gave the advice in Lagos at a press conference to announce the activities marking the chamber’s 40th anniversary, which will include a trade mission to the United Kingdom, to promote made-in -Nigeria goods.

According to him, the emergence of Donald Trump as US President, “means a new world order”, which he said, has both the positive and negative side of governance.

He said Nigeria must emulate the positive side, which has brought about end of globalisation, as against the promotion of globalisation in the last 20 years where advocacy on countries without borders was on the front burner.

“Countries including America were initially trying to create a borderless society where there will be free movement of commodities and persons, encouraging people to work in any country of choice, and that helped the growth of global economy. Globalisation helped in two ways: It helped in increasing the gap between the rich and the poor, such that the beneficiaries of globalisation are the rich countries.

The gap has so much widened that except something like this happened, there will be global explosion,” Adelegan said.

He said Trump’s first step approach to bridge that gap, by putting the people first, and making them the centre of government is in the right direction, because it will help America to address immigration challenges, since the migrants will always go to where the economy is already established, rather than developing their own economies.

With Trump’s policy, we will likely see a world in 10 years time, that will begin to look inwards and borders will be closed as against globalisation. What he is doing presently by shutting the American borders is as a result of the consequences and realities of globalisation, and Nigeria must take a cue from that, Adelegan said.

According to him, Nigeria must do the same and close its borders to other African countries, in order to grow the Nigerian economy in the right direction, because Nigeria has been ‘Father Christmas’ to many