A marketplace discourse to be organised by The King’s Court (TKC) Nigerian Economic Outlook Forum, with BusinessDay as media partner, will be holding tomorrow, Saturday, January 16. The forum is aimed at equipping participants with requisite knowledge and encouraging them to enthrone righteousness in their careers/businesses.
The discourse, which is part of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) TKC’s Community Outreach, has as a theme ‘Diversifying The Nigerian Economy,’ seeks also to encourage the participants in particular and Nigerians at large to look to God to crown their efforts with success, believing that “except the Lord builds the house they labour in vain that build it.”
The discourse, according to the organisers, will be focusing on key industry sectors – agriculture, entertainment, energy, financial services, manufacturing, technology, SMEs, job opportunities and skill development, which, they explain, are candidates for diversification of the economy in which a significant number of participants can play.
TKC, located strategically in Victoria Island, Lagos foremost business district, believes that it has a divine mandate to positively impact the marketplace in the country by promoting clean/ethical business practices and inclusive economic growth. The discourse is a non-denominational market-focused forum that seeks to provide insight as well as promote understanding of the environment and opportunities in Nigeria particularly with respect to the national budget.
Its broad objective is to equip participants with the requisite knowledge of the implications, opportunities and threats, which the 2016 budget presents, and the expected outcome for participants is improved strategic business focus as well as improved decision-making by prayerfully applying this knowledge and understanding.
“God desires His people to prosper, and this is also part of the objectives of this discourse; God also enjoins His people to act with wisdom, and wisdom is the right application of knowledge,” says Ben Akabueze, a RCCG pastor, explaining that the discourse is designed to equip people with knowledge about the current state of the Nigerian economy, as well as the prognosis for the economy to enable them to make the right decisions.
The 2015 edition of the discourse, Akabueze disclosed, significantly achieved these objectives as some persons have testified to having made right decisions and/or avoided wrong decisions based on the knowledge they received at the forum.
He recalled that Nigeria and Nigerians have been talking about diversifying the economy for a long time, noting however that they have not been doing much about it in real terms. “The oil industry has, for long, been characterized by boom and bust periods. During bust periods as we have now, there is a lot of talk about diversifying the economy, but often soon after the boom returns, we abandon any serious pursuit of diversification”, he said.
Continuing, he said, “I hope it will be different this time around. What needs to happen is for us to set clear, realistic and measurable targets for growth in other industries. Strategies for achieving these targets should be developed and specific persons/institutions held accountable for attainment of these targets”.
He suggested that the National Assembly should shift its oversight role from just ensuring that funds were spent for budgeted purposes but also tracking that core plan/budget objectives were achieved. “Diversifying an economy of the size of Nigeria’s is not a quick-fix, but sustainable progress in the right direction is possible, and indeed urgently needed”, he reasoned.
To make all these happen, he said, Nigerians need to pray more, arguing, “if despite all the prayers things are still the way they are, you should then ponder what the situation could have been without the prayers; the Nigerian situation could have been worse”.
The bible, he noted, says that faith without work is dead, adding that there is often a doing required to follow praying because “if after praying you do not engage in some job/business, you will suffer poverty; if after praying you do not clean your environment, you will fall sick and possibly, etc”, he posited.
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