‘National Integration Needed for Nigeria’s Economic Devt’

A Professor of Economics and Director, Institute for Development Studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Osita Ogbu, has stated that the economic development of Nigeria was depended on a true integration of its component units.

Citing the pace of development in Malaysia, China and the United States of America who have apparently gotten it right in their drive for economic development, Ogbu noted that nations rise and fall not because of oil or other sub-soil assets, but they rise because they have good leaders.

The professor, who is also a former minister of national planning, said in the Nigerian case, such “deliberate construction requires the elevation of citizenship over indigeneship; the promotion of meritocracy; the creation of democratic citizenship with equal rights and justice for all; and the use of creativity and imagination for common purpose irrespective of the source of this creativity.”

Speaking in Lagos, as the guest lecturer at the 2017 annual lecture organised by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), with the theme: “National Integration, Citizenship and Economic Policy Making,” recently, Ogbu said: “In our case, the recruitment of citizens with emotional attachment into this common political community is an exercise in national integration.

“The creation of this political community that binds through voluntary subscription must occur for economic and social policies to be effective. Unless this is done, we can plan but would be unable to implement as every regime starts the process anew.”

However, he suggested the creation of “a National Integration Commission (NIC) under the presidency that would champion actions and activities that would break the resistance to a true nation-state, overcome the strong bonds of ethnic affiliation and the emergence of a democratic citizenship with full rights wherever they may be.”

Earlier, in his welcome address at the occasion chaired by the President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, President/ Chairman in Council, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, (CIBN), Prof. Segun Ajibola, said the topic of the lecture was aptly timed given the current agitations for sovereign ethnic identities going on in all parts of the country.

Ajibola also explained that the topic of discourse was unique because after several years of experimenting with panel discussions, the Institute reverted to using only the guest lecturer, saying it was to allow the lecturer develop a well-researched paper that would do justice to the topic and have enough time for presentation.

He noted that the imperative of national integration for sustainable growth and development in a highly diverse and dispersed country like Nigeria cannot be overemphasised.

the citizens while respecting their respective ethnic, cultural, religious and social affiliations.”