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Nigeria to save over $100bn oil revenue via conservative savings – Ezekwesili

By on January 20, 2017

A former Vice-President of the World Bank, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, has said that conservative savings over a period of four years would have enabled the country save more than $100billion of oil revenue.

Ezekwesili disclosed this in Lagos during the Harvard Kennedy School Alumni Association of Nigeria (HKSAAN) Public Lecture with the theme: “Nigeria Today: The Fierce Urgency of Resetting Economic Policies for Inclusive Growth.”

She explained that the sovereign wealth fund can play a vital role in this regard. However, this, she explained, would depend on whatever it would be agreed to be put in the fund.

“We earned so much during the oil boom but we had nothing to show for. There is nothing in the constitution that enables you to save; it simply says that everything that enters the federation account must be distributed. The 1999 Constitution currently has no provision on saving funds and instead provides for everything that comes into the federation account to be disbursed.

If Nigeria failed to save the greater proportion of the foreign exchange realised from oil, the country would continue to suffer the shocks that come with the cyclical drop in global oil prices,” she stated.

Speaking on the theme of the lecture which centered on inclusive growth, the former Minister of Education said inclusive growth was necessary to kick start growth.

In her remarks, the Vice Chairperson of the Association, Olu Verheijen, explained that the HKSAAN Public Lecture series sought to convene senior stakeholders from government, business and civil-society to discuss critical economic, political and social challenges Nigeria currently faces and proffer solutions, stressing that the objective of these lectures is to invite participants and find what they can do to advance public interest.

 

[ThisDay]