By Victor Ofure Osehobo.
A few moments ago, this quote by Dr Akinwumi Adesina, Nigeria's former Minister of Agriculture and currently the 8th President of the African Development Bank Group caught my attention: "We must create a movement of hope. Hope for a better Nigeria! Not a Muslim Nigeria. Not a Christian Nigeria. Not Eastern Nigeria, South-South Nigeria, Western Nigeria, or Northern Nigeria. But one Nigeria – a New Nigeria, created by a renewed commitment to use our diversity as our strength.”
These words just helped to reinforce my confidence that our situation as a country is not hopeless, no matter our experiences at the present time. It gave me hope that there are still some Nigerians who believe that we have what is required and what it could possibly take, to create a new Nigeria. Dr. Adesina's faith that a smart Nigeria is within reach just as a dynamic globally competitive Nigeria is achievable, as infectious.
Nigerians for him have the right to the good life, a decent life. They deserve wealth and only a leader who can build a country by managing its diversity for the collective good, while forging economic growth, can actualize this vision.
I found out that his confidence comes from the fact in the course of his various assignments as a public servant, Dr Adesina interacted a great deal with young people and women –and prefers to call them Nigeria's greatest assets. He also interacted with owners of small and medium-sized enterprises, and with business leaders, from the remotest of rural areas to our cities.
In our youths, Dr Adesina sees the shape of the future of Nigeria, Africa and the world. Nigeria for him can be all that it can be, if youths are exposed to opportunities. It is his submission that the future of Nigeria lies in what it does today with its dynamic youth population. From the foregoing, it means given the opportunity, Dr Adesina will avail young Nigerians of economic, financial and business opportunities in a way and manner that facilitates a corresponding generational transfer of power and wealth to the youth.
This demographic advantage, turned into a first-rate and well-trained workforce, for Nigeria, for the region and for the world, Ihis words can change the popular folk saying from the “the young shall grow,” to, “The young have arrived.” And as the leaders of tomorrow, ready and willing to face life, given the proper foundation, he sees their anchors holding the storms of life as they press on to higher ground.
In this same vein, in our women, daughters, sisters and mothers, what Dr Adesina sees are great entrepreneurs, because they are the ones who are actually running Nigeria. They are everywhere, enterprising and hard at work! And for the younger females, availed of special entrepreneurship programs, he thinks their potential will be unleashed. Since, 'No bird can fly with one wing', Dr Adesina is confident that Nigeria will fly in great strides with two wings.
A strong advocate for the revolutionary power of technology, as the nation's Minister of Agriculture, he gave mobile phones, to provide 15 million farmers with access to improved seeds and fertilizers. The move introduced transparency and accountability in the use of public funds and set the pace for ending corruption in the sector. This feat, the first, anywhere in the world, helped Nigeria to produce over 20 million metric tons of food and was a major boost to food security as it expanded farmers access to wealth from the entire country. This feat can be replicated in many aspects of the Nigerian situation, with him at the helm.
For a man with such profound foresight, Dr Adesina's interaction, firsthand, with business owners, small, medium and big, from all nooks and crannies, exposed him to the vast opportunities they offer for a greater and more inclusive Nigeria.
A very optimistic and excited Nigerian, Dr Adesina's take on the issue of restructuring of Nigeria is stirring. He says it
must be driven by economic and financial viability – the necessary and sufficient conditions for political viability.
As for the constituent states that make up the country, he holds the view that they can be more financially autonomous through greater fiscal prudence. In addition, if they focus on unlocking the huge resources they have, based on areas of comparative advantage, they can as well rapidly expand wealth for their people. With this increased wealth, he sees a big boost to states' capacity to access capital markets to secure long-term financing to fast-track their growth and development.
The States can also become more independent by having portions of their federal revenue allocations as savings in internal ‘state sovereign wealth funds’. This will come in handy as guarantees against borrowings from capital markets and in turn will free them from needing to exclusively rely on the Federal allocation.
For Adesina's new Nigeria, citizens are identified by their state of residence, not state of origin. With states reflecting this residency, he sees embedded, the very ingredient needed for national unity - promoting cohesion, trust and inclusiveness.
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