• Friday, March 29, 2024
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Nigeria needs to double economy to achieve 2020 target – Salami

Lagos

If Nigeria is going to achieve her goal of becoming the 20th largest economy by 2020, she must double the size of her economy in the next one year, an economist, Doyin Salami, CEO, Kainos Edge Consulting Limited, said on Thursday.

He spoke at the 19th Annual International Conference with the Theme: “Economic Recovery and Development – Leveraging Technological Innovation,” organised by Risk Management Association of Nigeria (RIMAN) in Lagos.

According to Salami, the theme of the conference deals with economic development and that creating an inclusive society is part of development.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), successor to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), has 17 focal points for development.

Economic growth is only one of those 17, and as of 2018, Nigeria ranked 150 out of 156 countries as far as SDGs is concerned.

In that SDG dashboard, of the 17 which one do we not have data? For Nigeria, 5 of those 17 have no data. Of these 17, how many are we retrogressing? We are retrogressing in 2 – accommodation/housing,” he said, adding that 6 out of the 17 are where the country is stagnant and another 3 where it is making progress, but not fast enough to achieve the goals that have been set by 2030.

“You people are risk managers. You don’t need to be told that a society where a core issue is undermined by growth without development creates risks of the businesses that you manage,” Salami said.

He said the 46 sectors of the economy need to grow faster, saying, “We as a country need to see what role technology can play in modernising this economy.”

Magnus Nnoka, president of RIMAN, said the major risk the world was facing had to do with environmental issues, but beyond that, leveraging technology could solve these environmental issues. He thinks Nigeria needs to look at her educational system.

RIMAN, as part of its mission, tries to provoke discussions around topical issues of the moment. “The economy is shrinking and we feel that at this point in time the topical issues for most of the economies are how do you achieve faster economic growth and how do you take people out of poverty, and of course achieve economic development,” Nnoka, who doubles as chief risk officer, Coronation Merchant Bank, said.

 

HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE