By neglecting the agriculture and manufacturing sectors after the discovery of oil, Nigeria has fallen into a situation, described as the “Dutch disease”, which makes her economy vulnerable to downswings in petroleum prices, a former United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Walter Carrington, has said.
The former envoy, who made this submission while delivering this year’s Convocation Lecture of the University of Ilorin, noted that “Nigeria is overly dependent on an oil and gas sector, which provides 70 percent of its federal revenue, but is the source of a much smaller percentage of jobs than agriculture which employs 70 percent of the country's labour force.”
In the Lecture, entitled 'On the Dawn of Nigeria's Second Century: Challenges to a New Generation', Ambassador Carrington lamented that “Nigeria suffers, as do so many other highly endowed extractive natural resource countries, from what economists label as the “Dutch disease” whereby other sectors of the economy such as agriculture and manufacturing are relatively ignored.”
The Ambassador, who was accompanied to the University by his Edo State, Nigeria-born wife, Dr. Arese Carrington, stressed that the second century must be dedicated to diversifying the nation's economy away from its over dependence on oil and to adding value to the treasure trove of the other natural resources lying beneath its soil. This, he noted, can be done by sending not raw materials abroad but rather enhancing their value at home through a revitalized manufacturing sector, which refines and finishes the more than 30 different minerals lying beneath the nation's soil.
Mr. Carrington said, “At Independence in 1960, Nigeria's annual agricultural crop yields were higher than those of Indonesia and Malaysia. Today, they have dwindled to half as much. The fact that Nigeria's current yield per hectare is less than 50 percent of that of comparable developing countries dramatically demonstrates how much Nigeria has abandoned its once promising agricultural sector. Until Nigeria is able to rely less on capital intensive sectors of the economy and more on labour intensive ones it will be difficult to see how it will meet its ambitious goals to make the country one of the world's 20 most important economies.”
Charging the nation to realise its full potentials especially through agricultural revolution than over dependence on oil, the former diplomat lamented that Nigeria had been too long an under-performer on the world stage, adding that it had ceded to South Africa the pride of place as Africa's leading spokesman.
Mr. Carrington explained, “Even when oil prices were historically high, the national unemployment rate, instead of falling, rose from 21 percent in 2010 to 24 percent in 2011. As the African Development Bank report pointed out, Nigeria's recent economic growth has been mainly driven by the non-oil sector because of high consumer demand. The cruel irony is that whatever Nigeria and others in Africa might do to improve their economies their efforts in the short run could be undone by a renewed global financial crisis.
“When the G-8 or other gatherings of the world's most powerful nations occur, it is more often to Johannesburg that they call than to Abuja on those all too rare times when they seek an African perspective” the Convocation Lecturer noted.
The octogenarian diplomat identified corruption and insecurity as two reasons why Nigerians in the Diaspora are reluctant to return to the country, adding that developed countries of the world including the United States profit from Nigeria's greatest export, which is her accomplished people.
To the graduating students, the former envoy said, “This is not just a day of celebration but also of preparation. In order for you to do your part in making this world a better place you must understand the world that awaits you.” Answering questions from members of the audience during an interactive session after thelecture, Ambassador Carrington said that Nigeria cannot be ignored on how the world handles her problems.
The former envoy explained that Nigeria's election into the non-permanent seat of the United Nations Security Council was a clear indication that the country was a key player in global affairs.
Earlier in his address, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali, described Ambassador Carrington as a three-in-one personality: an academic par excellence, an experienced diplomat and a celebrated speaker.
The lecture was attended by many dignitaries from within and outside the University community, among whom were the three Deputy Vice-Chancellors: Prof. Bayo Lawal (Academic); Prof. Yisa Fakunle (Management Services); Prof. Felix Oladele (Research, Technology and Innovation); the Registrar, Mr. Emmanuel Obafemi; the Bursar, Mr. Abiodun Saka Yusuf; the University Librarian, Dr. Joseph Omoniyi; Deans of Faculties, as well as Directors of Academic and other Units.
Also in the audience were the immediate past Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede; the Vice-Chancellor of the Kwara State University, Prof. AbdulRasheed Na'Allah; the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna, Prof. Musbau Akanji; and the former Vice-Chancellor of the Fountain University, Osogbo, Prof. B. O. Oloyede, among others.
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