Professor Charles Soludo, a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, has labelled the continuous slump in prices of crude oil as a blessing to Nigeria, whose major source of revenue remains oil exports.
Speaking at the Progressive Governance Lecture Series, Soludo said the fall in oil prices is making the government and other stakeholders in the economy to begin afresh and build a production based economy not a consumption based one.
Emphasizing the need to eliminate poverty, Soludo also called on Nigeria as a nation and the states therein to maximize competitive advantages in order to foster inclusive growth.
‘Nigeria is facing unprecedented and tremendous political and economic challenges with global and local dynamics. Regardless of these challenges, opportunities and possibilities abound if we address some fundamental issues. The key to achieving this is to have a development plan that is anchored on realizing inclusive and sustainable growth’ The Nation Nigeria quotes Soludo as saying.
In addition to these, Soludo stated that development of future policies should align with the overall vision of a Nigerian economy without oil while monitoring and evaluation would be needed to ensure that states and the FG are on the right track.
Parts of this article originally appeared in The Nation Nigeria.