Agbakoba seeks policy reforms to pull 200m Nigerians out of poverty
Olisa Agbakoba, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has advised the Federal Government to consider adopting the Keynesian expansionary fiscal policy, saying that the country could achieve sustaind double digit growth of about 10 percent over 10 years to lift, at least, 200 million Nigerians out of poverty.
In a release to the media in Lagos, Thursday, Agbakoba, an activist, said experts had agreed that there was a strong link between law and regulatory institutions, governance, economic development and national welfare, while saying that the links between legal policy, economic development, governance, institutions was imperative enough for the government to institute needed reforms in the judicial.
According to him, “My recommendation is that the Federal Government should adopt the Keynesian expansionary fiscal policy in order to achieve and sustain doubledigit growth of at least 10percent over 10 years to pull at least 200 million Nigerians out of poverty.
“But the magic wand that can achieve this feat is the concept of development law, a public policy tool that intersects law and economic development.
“Development l aw scholars agree that there is a strong linkage between law, regulatory institutions, governance, economic development and national welfare. It is argued that the Nigerian legal and judicial framework is hopelessly outdated and needs an urgent review to meet current challenges. Yet governments generally fail to notice the links between legal policy, economic development, governance, institutions, etc,” Agbakoba said.
Agbakoba further attributed the underdevelopment in the country to the inability of successive administrations to merge the links between legal institutions, political economy and development.
“The links unfortunately between legal institutions, political economy and development have often, and in our case, been completely overlooked or missed, hence, under-development.
“It is important therefore that policymakers must, “consider that although macro policies are unquestionably important, there is a growing consensus that the quality of business regulations and the legal institutions that enforce it are a major determinant of development”.
“If development law is applied as a public policy tool in the following areas, for example, Financial Services Sector, National trade policy, Maritime, Aviation and Space, Legal and Justice Sector, Land Administration, Corruption, Social Security Administration etc. It will transform the economy, create millions of jobs and pull 200 million Nigerians out of poverty,” he said.
He, however, urged the Federal Government to create new streams of revenue around transformed financial services sectors, while advocating for a new trade policy which would empower the CBN with strong rules, restricting banking to lending and not trading which would discourage dumping and aid the manufacturing sector.
“The Federal Government should organise new streams of revenue around a transformed financial services sector, and empower CBN with strong rules restricting banking to lending and not trading, a new trade policy and legislation on trade remedies which will make Nigeria a centre of production and not dumping, full enhancement of maritime and aviation resources by strengthening Cabotage legislations and a new Fly Nigeria Act,” he said.
According to him, “Development law policy will completely transform legal and judicial failure and bring efficiency to business transactions. I confidently predict that development law policy will transform the Nigerian economy. We will see sustained revenue inflows, double-digit growth, massive job creation and quantitative easing.”