Frontline economist and political scientist, Prof. Pat Utomi, at the weekend urged governments at all levels to provide purposeful leadership by formulating policies that would take the country out of recession. Utomi made the call at an International Conference at the Samuel Adegboyega University (SAU) in Ogwa, Edo State, which was organised in honour of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Bernard Aigbokhan.
The theme of his presentation was “A Holistic Interdisciplinary Approach to Sustainable Economic Growth: How I Went From an Economic Growth Activist to being Obsessed with Leadership Development.”
Utomi explained that the burden of growth and development fell between destiny and policy, of which policy was the way out.
“Many experiences in Nigeria, where policy reforms during structural adjustments improved the foreign exchange markets, reduced the distortions of a licensing web, price controls and government ownership of business ventures through an aggressive privatisation programme, had showed that the choice of policy was the deciding factor,” he said.
It could be recalled that Utomi had earlier said Nigerian leaders must put in place policies that will ensure the country produces more as it will go a long way in addressing the nation’s economic problems.
Similarly, another economist, Prof. Mike Obadan of the University of Benin, in a paper “Governance and the Challenges of Economic Development in Nigeria,” said the promotion of economic growth and development of national objectives are crucial to the attainment of good governance and democracy.
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