– Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s former finance minister and coordinating minister of the economy, has carpeted African leaders
– She said in an interview that the much-talked about diversification of the economy cannot happen in four years as being predicted by those in government
– Recalling how Dubai was able to achieve diversification in 30 years, she urged African countries to get serious with the economy
The much-talked about diversification of the Nigerian economy by President Muhammadu Buhari may just be a farce judging by comments linked to former finance minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
President Muhammadu Buhari
Okonjo-Iweala said diversification of an economy cannot happen within four years, especially with the level of laziness exuded by leaders in Africa.
Following the sharp slide in the prices of crude oil as well as heavy militant activities in the Niger Delta region, the government had often talked about diversification to other revenue-earning areas of the country.
In an interview with Africa CEO forum, Okonjo-Iweala recalled how it took took Dubai over 30 years to attain true diversification.
“We need to look at the area of diversification. We ask ourselves, all the time, we talk about diversification, but I think we are a little bit lazy in the way we talk about it.
“Diversification cannot happen over four years. Look at Dubai; it took Dubai more than three decades. Now all of us are rushing there to go and do business, to go for medical checkup, to go and enjoy ourselves.
“They didn’t do this overnight, they began to think about it years ago, and it took them three decades. So African countries must get serious and say now, what are the logistics? What is the infrastructure?
“What do we need and how do we concretely start one sector at a time to diversify so that we can have an economy that is less dependent,” Daily Post quoted her as saying in the interview.
“The next question is industrialisation and trade. How do we attract more manufacturing into our countries and also specialise in our trade.
“The trade among us is so little, anywhere from 12 to 16 percent, has not been growing much over the years.
“We are all producing the same thing, so quite apart from the logistical problems that confront trade, we have to ask ourselves, are we going to sell each other the same trade? The answer is no.
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“Our trade will never grow as long as we don’t specialise among ourselves, and that means that some of us have to get into manufacturing, we have to industrialise more, so that we can send different goods to different countries.
“These are areas where we need to do deep thinking, not just talking,” she added.
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