Success Damian:
Former British
Minister and President of Royal Geographical Society, Lynda Baroness Chalker of
Wallassey has disclosed that Nigeria just like any other nations of the world requires
750-1000 kilowatts per 100 persons to ensure development.
Speaking at
Lagos State University at the weekend during An Afternoon with Baroness Chalker
which has the theme ‘Africa in a Competitive World: Business and Investment,’ she
stated that access to affordable and regular power supply is the engine to
industrialization. She said that United States has 3000kw per 100; United
Kingdom, 500kw per 1000, Ghana is 66, but Nigeria still struggling to make it
25 per 100.
While
stating that competitiveness is essential to a country’s overall prosperity,
Chalker stressed that there are four key factors that are used to assess a
country’s competitiveness which include but not restricted to economic performance,
government and business efficiency and growth, and infrastructure development.
On economic
growth she said reduction in government debt, strengthening international
trade, business efficiency, ease of doing business, corporate governance and an
increase in business activity to drive up competitiveness and steady
digitization are indices of economic growth.
To her,
assessing competitiveness across Africa, there were mixed picture which are three
fold, foreign direct investment, revenue generation, options for finance,
infrastructure development, population and job market.
Chalker said
‘According to the world investment report 2018, (FDI) flows to Africa slumped
to $42billion in 2017, a 21% decline from 2016. While Africa is still the 2nd
fastest region globally by capital investment, it is buoyed by North Africa
especially Morocco. FDI in Morocco, she said, grew by 23% in 2017 to
$2.7billion, mainly as a result of sizable investment in the automotive sector.
The former
Minister said regrettably FDI projects into Nigeria fell in number, from 49 to
35, in 2017, adding that many projects have been started, but are not yet
completed. She gave an instance of a project like the roads around Murtala
Muhammed Airport which often is the first glimpse of Nigeria that an incoming
overseas visitor to Lagos has.
On his part,
the Vice Chancellor of Lagos State University, Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun,
welcoming Chalker said Lasu is increasingly becoming a crucible of innovation,
development and leadership training. “We are an institution and an
administration that should be taken seriously as choice partners of
development.”
He further
said ‘Today our online Distant Learning and Research Institute is being
structured to serve as the benchmark for distance-learning education in
Nigeria. There is no gainsaying the fact that LASUCOM, our medical school is
one of the best and most sought after in the country and that the Lagos State
Teaching Hospital, Ikeja is one of the best equipped’
He said the
crucial link between education and industry is research and development, ‘with
the right endowments the university can provide research-evidenced solutions
for industry, develop solutions, technology and innovations to enhance local
content and competitiveness of the industrial sector.
Fagbohun
said Funding for such researches are currently paltry where existent, adding
that rather that fledgling technical departments, the private sector can invest
in R&D in partnership with tertiary institutions, which are better equipped
and are happy for industry to own patents resulting from researches they have
sponsored.
Fagbohun
advocated that as previously, government should revert to recruiting the best
brains on graduation to man the bureaucracies and enhance the capacity for
policy formulation and implementation.
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