TO achieve its dream of ranking among the strongest economies of the world by 2020, Nigeria must make infrastructure development one of its topmost priorities.
The advice came at the weekend in Abuja from the lead Economist, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Department of the World Bank, Volker Treichel.
Treichel spoke at a retreat on repositioning the Ministry of Labour in effort to realise the 2020 vision for Nigeria.
According to Treichel, challenges such as lack of jobs in the urban areas which fuels social unrest, an education system not responsive to demands of the labour market, and non-percolation of the on-going reforms’ gains to the grassroots, must be addressed by government urgently.
His words: “Nigeria is doing well and it can indeed meet her aspiration of being among the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020 considering Nigeria’s economic indices. But urgent step must be taken to address the large scale unemployment among the urban youth causing social unrest, education system not responsive to the demands of the labour markets and lack of basic amenities such as power, good roads and rail transport network. These are some of the basic things that can hinder Nigeria from achieving the set objective.”
He pointed out that greater emphasis on the private sector has led to growth and macro-economic stability adding that increased support for the non-oil sectors, especially agriculture, has also resulted into a big push for export-led growth.
“Non-oil growth averaged more than seven per cent over the period 2001 and 2006. This achievement is equally driven by strong growth in telecommunications, manufacturing, agriculture, wholesale and retail.”
According to him, though government reforms have been largely successful, the inability of people at the grassroots to feel the positive impact has been a major worry.
To ensure that people benefit from the reforms, Treichel maintained that the manufacturing sector must have access to long-term finance, finance sector intermediation must be deepened, while the capital market must also be deepened and lending environment strengthened.
He also said that there is need for the Federal Ministry of Labour to develop an institutional structure to better coordinate labour supply and labour demand.
“The ministry must show more understanding of the needs of priority sectors and assessing effectiveness of programmes. It must not only provide career guidance services but should go ahead to strengthen it,” he said.
Treichel said the present structure of the Nigerian higher institution of learning must be fine-tuned with a view to re-positioning them to meet the dynamic job landscape in terms of what is needed in the labour market, adding that the composition of tertiary institutions programmes should tend towards having a bias for science and technology.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour, Prof. Oladapo Afolabi, said the realisation of President Umaru Yar’Adua’s resolve to have Nigeria in the bracket of 20 largest economies in the world by 2020 necessitated the retreat, which was meant to re-position the ministry towards meeting the goal.
Afolabi declared: “The Ministry of Labour is saddled with job creation, maintaining peace within work environment for national growth and development through the use of best practices. In order to achieve these, the ministry has been given specific mandates in the areas of employment services, industrial relations, social security and productivity among others. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that the ministry is not only recognised during industrial crisis, but also recognised as a vehicle for the nation’s economic growth.”