Sa’idu Dattijo Adahama, a Kano politician, says Nigeria has attained political independence but has yet to achieve the economic independence its founding fathers envisioned.
Mr Adahama, who spoke on Nigeria’s 66th independence anniversary, said the country’s founding leaders envisaged a united, economically productive nation capable of producing and exporting goods while developing its human capital.
He said the founding generation also expected an economy driven by indigenous industries and entrepreneurship, and Nigerians educated to play leading roles in national development.
Mr Adahama said his interactions with people and institutions in the early post-independence period convinced him that economic development was central to the founding leaders’ aspirations. He said Nigeria had recorded some achievements, particularly in maintaining national unity, but leadership challenges and economic policies had hindered the country’s progress.
According to him, the Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Decree of the 1970s was among efforts aimed at increasing indigenous participation and ownership in the economy.
Mr Adahama said Nigeria should return to policies that promote local production, indigenous industries and entrepreneurship, arguing that excessive dependence on imports has weakened the country’s productive capacity.
He identified currency depreciation and what he described as excessive liberalisation of trade among factors affecting local businesses, employment and the country’s ability to produce goods for export.
Mr Adahama also called for greater emphasis on skills acquisition in the education system, saying academic qualifications without practical skills could leave graduates dependent on scarce white-collar jobs.
“Education without skills—that is the most unfortunate thing,” he said, urging the government to develop a skill-based education system capable of producing a productive population.
(NAN)