- Mott MacDonald Nigeria organised a roundtable on economic transformation on Wednesday, May 9
- The theme of the event was 'Collaborative Thinking and Action for Nigeria's Transformational Economic Development'
- Experts at the event agreed that Nigeria must do more in order to transform its economy
Global engineering, management and development consultancy outfit, Mott MacDonald, held a roundtable on economic transformation on Wednesday, May 9, in Abuja.
The theme of the event was 'Collaborative Thinking and Action for Nigeria's Transformational Economic Development.'
Dignataries at the event include the Chief Executive Office of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC); Yewande Sadiku, and the representatives of the governors of Kaduna, Jigawa and Kano states.
Participants pose for a group photograph after the roundtable. Photo credit: Jerrywright Ukwu
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Delivering a keynote at the event, Ms Sadiku noted there is an imbalance in Nigeria's economic development.
According to her, some states have an advantage over the others, stressing that her agency is working on policies that will enable smaller states catch up with their counterparts.
Her words: “Nigeria is a compendium of 36 states and the FCT, so it is a wrong approach to take a federal mandate, to assume that your mandate is separate from the states. I feel very strongly that although we have a federal mandate, it is really a mandate to coordinate the work of the states and the FCT because they are critical.
“If you look at the constitution, it suggests that economic development in Nigeria was intended to happen across all parts of the country. It wasn't meant to be concentrated in one part, while by omission or commission.
“The reality is that there seems to be disproportion and imbalance in economic development and it is our responsibility at NIPC to ensure that we provide the same level of support on a state by state basis.
“Our reaction with a state is not a function of how the state responds to us, because I think that it is important that states compete for investors attention. Capital will go where capital is courted, where it is welcome, where it does not feel threatened.”
She stated that her commission have ensured that their policies are consistent and in tandem with that of the states.
She also informed the audience that the NIPC have developed a template for profiling investment opportunities in Nigeria on state by state basis.
Speaking to NAIJ.com on the sidelines of the event, the divisional general manager (international economic and social development), John Shotton, said the event was organised to “bring together brain powers from the private sector, state and federal governments to generate discussions on what can be dine to improve investment opportunities in some of the northern states in Nigeria.”
He continued: “We have a long track record of working in Nigeria and we see ourselves as a partner to the federal and state governments. We have worked closely on educational programmes for the last 10 years, particularly in Jigawa, Katsina, Zamfara, Kaduna and Kano.
“We see the possibilities to continue to work with the states and also the federal government in terms of the experience and as a Nigerian company that has major footprints across the world in agriculture, infrastructure, transport and also in power.”
Asked why the focus on northern states, Shotton said: “The focus is on northern Nigeria by virtue of the fact that the development partners we are working with have actually targeted those states. And a lot of that has to do with the fact that they are lower in basic stats in Nigeria and that is where some of the greatest need is.”
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Meanwhile, Senator Danjuma Goje has dismissed the social investment programme of the federal government tagged - N-Power, as a failure.
In a series of tweets by the senator seen by NAIJ.com on Friday, April 6, Goje said many people are complaining that they have not seen impact of the programme considering the magnitude of funds involved.
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Source: Naija.ng
