NIGERIA NEEDS PROGRESSIVE ECONOMIC POLICIES--SANUSI

A former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has said that the country needs policies that will boost economic growth.

 Sanusi spoke in Lagos on Wednesday at the public presentation of Funmi Oyetunji’s book, ‘A Conscious Life’.



“We need to think through what we do and on the bigger picture too by coming up with policies that will lead us to where we simply want to go,” he said.

The emir, who was recently in Rome for Pope Francis’ meeting with religious leaders and refugees on the occasion of the Assisi Peace Day, also stated that most of the religious crises being experienced in the country and the world at large had roots in poor economic policies and bad governance.

“Being an economist, my perspective has always been that a lot of the problems we think are religious do have roots in bad economics and bad policies that create poverty and therefore lead to conflicts,” he said.

The Chief Executive Officer, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Mrs. Sola David-Borha, said that beyond the personal usefulness of the book, it was a call on state governments to create wealth rather than depend on statutory allocations.

She added that it was also a call on the relevant authorities to open up the country’s financial market with minimal restrictions on the entry and exit of funds.

“Our market should be able to create wealth in a sustainable manner. If we focus on wealth creation rather than sharing of money, we will be able to put the nation on the trajectory of growth,” she said.

The former Chairman of Punch Nigeria Limited, Chief Ajibola Ogunshola, who wrote the foreword of the book, said a lot of research went into its production.

“I am amazed at the volume of research that went into the production of the book,” he said.

The author, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Abitos Financial Services, said the book was a call on the nation and its people to become more conscious on both social and personal issues.

“It is a clarion call for people to be awake in living their lives and not just to go by the flow. The inspiration came from counselling young people and seeing that there are no clear directions on how most of them are living their lives. For those who read, they should be able to reassess their own lives after reading this book,” Oyetunji said.