Punch
A professor of political economy and management expert, Pat Utomi, has said present and past leaders of the country have done very little to diversify Nigeria’s economy.
He said despite promises by successive administrations to diversify the economy, the heavy dependence on crude oil still continued, warning that failure to diversify could spell doom for the country.
Utomi spoke during the launch of the ‘Rebuild Nigeria Initiative’ in Abuja.
He said, “The word ‘diversification’ if you do a content analysis, must be the most used word in budget broadcasts in Nigeria. For more than 30 years I have heard of promises to diversify our economy away from dependence on crude oil. I mean, I have heard it so many times that it is like playing in my head.
“Unfortunately, we’ve done very little in that direction and it has assumed a new urgency because the world is going through an energy transition. We have forgotten that crude oil is a finite resource. In 10 to 12 years from now, as close as that is, few cars will run on petrol. We’ve to put our hydrocarbons endowment to other kinds of uses.”
He also called on the Federal Government to take a cue from countries like Botswana, and other countries with better economies that have massively invested in their youths.
Utomi said the youths are major drivers of the…
