For Nigeria to keep pace like other developed countries, there is the need to rebuild the country’s intellectual foundation to enhance productivity and competitiveness.
This was stated by Dr. Tayo Aduloju, Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), while delivering the 55th convocation lecture of the University of Lagos, Akoka, entitled: ‘Universities as Hubs for Development and Wealth Creation,’ on Monday.
According to him, over the next 25 years, by systematically nurturing the Nigerian dream and its future leaders, Nigeria can evolve into a socioeconomically advanced democracy by 2050 adding: “A prosperous, technologically enabled and inclusive nation, becoming Africa’s strongest economy and a source of pride for the black race.”
He however added that, it was also important to establish hubs to develop leaders and a skilled workforce to enable the country become a leading industrial reformer in Africa.
“It is important to break free from political and regulatory constraints to create an attractive investment climate,” he said.
Further recommendations, the guest lecturer also called for the establishment of an industrial-Development-Policy Nexus in Education Hubs to foster consensus among business, political and intellectual elites on developmental imperatives for Nigeria.
He added: “Universities should inspire students to contribute to a shared vision for Nigeria’s future, by establishing coordinated Education with industry-led competency councils, we can re-imagine future workforces across key sectors.”
On Africans economic challenges, Dr. Aduloju said that despite its vast natural resources, Africa faced significant economic challenges, accounting for only 2.4% of global GDP while having around 30% of the earth’s remaining minerals resources, including over 40% of gold and 90% of platinum reserves.
“To overcome economic challenges, African policy makers need to increase domestic revenues, improve spending efficiency and leverage the continent’s demographic advantage which include the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA); foster entrepreneurship and modern competitive economies and investment in mineral resource development,” he explained.
Listing the strategic imperatives for education hub in Nigeria, Aduloju said there must be an agreement to align the objectives and priorities of National Universities with national development frontier targets; secondly, the proposal should establish a collaborative framework for academic centres of excellence while the third focus will be to realign research with innovation and technology needs to enhance competitiveness in Nigeria, among others.
To him, the ideas and ideals are already working worldwide and will work in Nigeria but requires the courage not to be held back by myopic divisiveness, petty political patronage and sectional interests peddled by political manipulators.
Congratulating the graduating students, Aduloju urged them to learn from those before them as they will never become masters unless they humble themselves to learn from those ahead.
“Mastery is a process of relentless rigor in the learning, application, internalisation and integration of the secrets of excellence in your field as mastery requires the investment of time and effort,” he advised.
The Chairman of the Occasion, His Excellency, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, former Governor of Lagos State and Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in his remarks commended the university for its foresights and support to the development of the country over the years with its convocation lectures which was always thought provoking and solutions to salient issues in the society.
Earlier in her speech, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola said in an era of rapid changes in knowledge, innovation and complex challenges, it is imperative to continuously evaluate how well the university is doing in fulfilling its social contract with society to provide fit for purpose manpower, generate new knowledge to address societal problems and provide technology to shape the future.
“Dr Aduloju is a distinguished fully rounded professional whose contributions include reform initiatives in several socio-economic fields, such as aviation, agriculture, finance, fiscal development, human resources, governance, performance management, investment promotion, maritime, and transport policies and I am sure the lecture will key into the central questions that we ask ourselves constantly at the University of Lagos which is applicable to all universities,” she added.
BV.