Massive Youth Unemployment, Threat to Nigeria’s Future, Moghalu Warns

A former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Kingsley Moghalu has warned that the “monster of millions of young men and women with no jobs is a fundamental threat to Nigeria’s future.”

Moghalu, who gave the warning in a presentation titled: “The Challenge of Economic Growth in Nigeria,” which he delivered at the fifth Goddy Jidenma Foundation public lectures in Lagos yesterday, however, pointed out that the challenge could be defeated with the requisite political will, economic know-how, and strategy.

He urged policy makers in the country to stop underestimating the sheer scale of challenges of economic growth facing the country, saying Nigeria does not have a mere economic slowdown, but “an existential economic crisis that could eclipse the future of our children, given our rapidly growing population in a competitive world economy, if we do not get serious about our economy.”

He added: “Nigeria has not achieved qualitative and sustained economic growth and development because we do not have a philosophical foundation or vision of economic development. “If you have no compass, you have no direction. Activity alone is not a substitute for real vision. All countries that have achieved economic progress have had a clear vision.”

According to him, there was the urgent need to face the reality that Nigeria would not achieve economic development and transformation on the current trajectory of its politics.

“The present political leadership class simply does not have the skills and the background that are fit for purpose. Technocratically competent and visionary political leaders are what it will take to reposition the Nigerian economy for sustainable growth and transformation,” he stressed.

Furthermore, Moghalu pointed out that the future of oil on which Nigeria depends for 80 per cent of its total revenue and 90 per cent of its forex, was bleak.

“To address and overcome these challenges and create a radically different economic future from our past and present, we must understand, and apply this understanding to leadership, governance and public policy, the shades of meaning, differences and relationships between economic growth, economic development and economic transformation.

“The challenge Nigeria faces is that a developmental state requires very strong leadership vision, political will, and a deep bench of intellectual and technocratic competence in economic management. This is lacking in the governance of Nigeria today.

“We also do not have sufficient intellectual understanding and interrogation of capitalist economics. We are attempting to achieve development with a market based-economy but have paid insufficient attention to understanding how to unleash the three requirements for successful capitalism – property rights, innovation and, of course, capital.

“The result, as we see in the Nigerian economy, is a high degree of poverty for a majority and the concentration of a capitalist wealth in the hands of very few,” he said.