In a recent keynote address, immediate past Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, called for the incoming federal government to prioritise managing Nigeria’s diversity, economy, and issues identified as fundamental to a more acceptable and functional structure.
Speaking at the Change and Development Forum held at the Redemption Camp on Thursday, May 4, 2023, Dr Mimiko emphasised the importance of addressing these concerns for the nation’s future.
“There appears to be national consensus on such diverse issues as devolution of resources, state police, devolution of powers, and a cashless economy, among others,” Mimiko stated, urging the incoming government to rally the nation and the National Assembly to make laws bringing these changes into effect.
The former governor also highlighted the urgent need for an innovative job creation strategy, citing the nation’s 40 percent youth unemployment rate. “The point cannot be overemphasised that government has the responsibility to give direction to the private sector and hold it accountable,” he said.
Mimiko discussed the benefits of a cashless economy as an effective tool for fighting systemic corruption, leveraging Nigeria’s deep mobile penetration, and improving government services and fiscal capacity.
“The apparent administrative incompetence, flip flop, and little or no sensitivity to the needs of the people that greeted the exercise up till now should not serve as a disincentive to the journey to its eventual actualization,” he argued.
Furthermore, Mimiko introduced the four Ps the incoming administration must deploy to improve the country’s economy: planning and targeting, providing power and financial resources, protecting local and infant industries, and patronising made-in-Nigeria products.
Mimiko also underscored the importance of focusing on concrete metrics, such as debt-to-revenue ratio, poverty rate, unemployment rate, and maternal mortality rate, rather than relying solely on more traditional indexes like GDP and per capita income.
“They do not tell the whole story, and at any event, many of them are at best neo-liberal tools of control over the newer economies,” he cautioned.
The Change and Development Forum was organized by the Dare Adeboye Foundation, a non-profit organization in honor of Late Pastor Dare Adeboye, son of the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor E.A. Adeboye.
