Leading economists in Nigeria have again harped on the need for state governors and federal government to embark on aggressive drive to develop infrastructure acrossboard using the public-private partnership (PPP) model.
The economists spoke on the backdrop of Analysts Data Services and Resources (ADSR) report on Tuesday.
A Professor of Economics, Pan-Atlantic University, Bright Eregha, emphasised the need to tackle the binding constraints to productivity through industrialisation.
Eregha called for a more structured and proper Public Private Partnership (PPP) framework to finance infrastructural facilities therefore enhancing manufacturing and global competitiveness.
“It is also important for government to be more efficient in delivering an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.
“Education, health and human capital development as key drivers of productivity must be refocused while Nigeria takes advantage of its youthful population and train them on skills that are relevant to get the needed competitiveness across states.
“The least performing states in welfare and livelihood show the criticality of education and we need to put more emphasis on programmes that drive education to drive human capital development and to strengthen institutions,” he said.
Similarly, Dr OluwaSeyi Vincent, an economist from the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), urged government to focus better on the health sector due to its ability to shore up productivity.
Vincent, lauding government’s various health schemes so far, also noted the need for a wider coverage of the National Health Insurance Scheme, particularly in rural areas to further increase access to healthcare.
Also, Adedotun Seyingbo, Economic Development and Governance Reform Specialist, said industrial policies at sub-national levels needed to be rethought and reviewed.
He noted that efforts by some states to drive industrialisation via provision of lands, subsidies among other measures remained largely uncoordinated.
“States must stop imitating policies but create reforms typical to addressing each state’s perculiar industrialisation needs.
“There should be more focus on domestic businesses and encouraging reforms for new and innovative businesses.
“As such, states must refocus developing entrepreneurship, start-ups, new ideas and businesses and encourage domestic firms till they grow large enough, to begin to attract the needed Foreign Direct Investment (FDI),” he said.
