Nigeria 2050: Shifting gears, shifting paradigms

How prepared are we for the challenges of the future? How well have we fared in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? Is our population currently an asset or a liability? These are among many other pertinent questions that discussants at the recent 2019 Nigerian Economic Summit (NES) sought to address.

The dichotomy between leaders and politicians earlier established comes in very handy here; to the extent to which the dichotomy holds true, the visionaries and current leadership of the NESG can be said to be leaders on the merit of their agenda being championed for Nigeria’s fortunes in 2050. Nature has guaranteed that the majority of the political actors would not be around in 2050 hence the confirmation that the brains behind the NESG are indeed true leaders.

The theme of the summit which also propitiously is the 25th Anniversary of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) was: “Nigeria 2050: Shifting Gears”. The key areas were achieving rapid industrialisation, sustainable peace and security, managing demography and transforming education (which was also the theme for this year’s International Youth Day). The choice of these focus areas is both epoch-making and momentous. It was epochmaking because these issues, in addition to climate action, dominate the agenda for global discourse. It is momentous because the current handling of these issues would go a long way in determining the future of Nigeria.

2050 may seem very far but it is in reality, closer than we think. Just like yesterday, 2020 looked like it would never come. Human capital development must be at the core of government policies and programmes. It must be the most desirable goal to turn around the current liability that our population is to an asset that is equipped to drive innovation for the future. If we do nothing about the increasing number of out-of-school children, we may never be able to get out of the quandary we will find ourselves. The politicians whose names would be guaranteed in fine prints in our history books would be the ones who plant the trees so that future Nigerians can enjoy the shade. This is indeed a call to leadership.

Samuel Akinnug wrote from Lagos samuelakinnuga@yahoo. com