By Francis Akinnodi

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As Nigeria remains in its second recession, an Economist, Dr. Adedoyin Salami has called for a paradigm shift to tackle dwindling resources, revenue and reserve as the country’s economy remain at the consumption level.
Salami who described the situation as pathetic said it is unacceptable for continued decline in national revenue and huge unemployment rate in the country.
Speaking with The Hope, he also decried the economic situation which has also triggered urban violence, kidnapping and militant insurgency in the country.
He emphasized that manufacturing remains the sure pathway to higher productivity and increased living standards. “An economy with poor manufacturing base will generate little opportunity for employment and consequently increase poverty.
“In order to create a strong, growing, solid national economy, the role of industry as a contributor of national income should reach about 40 per cent of GDP, at which level the country would see ample production from domestic manufacturers.”
He also stated that many challenges confront the development of industry: poor infrastructure, limited financing schemes, a rigid bureaucracy, difficulty in accessing land/work space and a shortage of human resources with competency in engineering that can boost creativity and innovation.
According to him, the conservation among constituent segments of the Nigerian nation should seize to focus on how to share the ‘national cake’, because the “cake needs to be baked before it can be shared. The focus therefore, should be how to consistently increase the quantum of cake being produced and sustainable too.”
According to him: “This situation is certainly worrisome considering the fact that statistics have shown that over 60 per cent of Nigerian youths are unemployed or underemployed.
“Consequently, the army of restive unemployed youth have resulted in increased urban violence, kidnapping and militant insurgency in the country.
“This pathetic situation underscores the urgent need for an effective reversal. We certainly cannot continue in the direction of continued decline in national revenue and massive unemployment with its attendant consequences.
“There need for a paradigm shift; Nigeria’s pathetic situation of a consumption economy is certainly not sustainable. However, one may be tempted to ask, can we really reverse the situation and how?
“Fortunately, we seem to have aroused from the consumption-induced coma because, there is a strong belief that Nigeria’s industrial capacity is on the verge of a reversal, especially with some aggressive domestic investment made in cement and sugar manufacturing.
“The renewed focus on agriculture and the agriculture – value chain, and with new investments in commercial farming, fertilizer plants and food processing plants raise hopes of a renaissance.
“But, we need to ensure we rebuild a strong economic foundation on which the resurgent productive capacity will anchor and withstand the whirlwind of globalization and international pressures and competition.
“To drive our quest to become a productive nation that will achieve quantum leap, we need to jettison consumption in favour of production oriented economy,” he said.
He also pointed out that general insecurity had shut out investors completely, worsening the revenue shortfall even before COVID-19 struck, adding that the Central Bank would need to be more aggressive in its developmental functions as monetary policies would be helpless in addressing the economic lull.
“The recession is further worsened by COVID-19, though the economy was not doing well before the pandemic.
“Unfortunately, the government does not have enough to spend. But we need robust fiscal and investment policies to get out of it.”, he said.