Speeches
President Umaru Musa Yar ‘Adua speech at the opening Ceremony of the 13th Nigerian Economic Summit
Sep 5, 2007, 18:14
| | His Excellency, President Umaru Musa Yar ‘Adua, GCFR
at the opening Ceremony of the 13th Nigerian Economic Summit
Abuja. 5th September 2007
PROTOCOL
I am delighted to be here today at the formal opening of the 13th Nigerian Economic Summit organized by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group in collaboration with the National Planning Commission.
The Nigerian Economic Summit has, over the years, evolved to become a vibrant and credible platform for engendering productive partnership between the public and private sectors towards the accelerated growth of our national economy and the development of our country. The organizers deserve special commendation for steadfastly sustaining and deepening this productive synergy.
The theme for this year's Summit, Nigeria: Positioning for Top 20 League, directly interrogates our Administration’s abiding covenant with the people of this country to work resolutely towards making ours one of the world’s twenty largest economies within the next thirteen years. We recognize that attaining this goal is possible only if we recommit to deepening, broadening and accelerating the reform process initiated by the previous Administration.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, the profundity of the challenge we are faced with is made manifest when we consider that we need to grow at a minimum average rate of 15% over the next decade, when the fastest economic growth rate we have achieved in our recent history is 10%. This Summit must necessarily emerge with a clear, practical roadmap on how best we can grow our economy faster to enable us actualize our Vision 20-2020.
We have a clearly defined national objective which all Nigerians can relate to and whose attainment we are totally committed to: transforming Nigeria into one of the world’s twenty largest economies by 2020! To achieve this, democratic governance must take solid root; we must entrench the rule of law; security, law and order must be the norm; our the justice sector reforms must result in the speedy and efficient administration of justice; and we must give sustained serious attention to the development of critical infrastructure – power, energy, transportation; etc.
We have reiterated our commitment to ensuring the proper grounding of democratic governance and the nurture and consolidation of our political process. We have sought to expand the political space, strengthen political structures and institutions, and engender inclusiveness. Only recently, we inaugurated the electoral reform panel charged with the responsibility of raising the standard and quality of general elections in our country to acceptable international standards. It is our hope that in the end, we would have bequeathed to Nigerians an enduring democratic culture.
From the inception of our Administration, we have made the entrenchment of absolute respect for the rule of law our guiding principle. We believe that if we conduct ourselves with the highest degree of integrity; if we subject the conduct of all government business to respect for law and order, established rules, regulations and procedures; and if we insist on zero tolerance for corruption in all its ramifications, we would have established the requisite environment for the accelerated growth of our economy and the sustained development of our nation. We have committed to the continued pursuit of reforms in the justice sector in order to promote the speedy, accessible and efficient administration of justice.
All of these have been with a view to creating the requisite environment for the pursuit of our 20-2020 Vision.
However, our abysmal infrastructural challenge remains the greatest impediment to economic growth. We lag behind many comparable developing countries in terms of infrastructure development indicators. Surveys consistently identify infrastructure as the major hindrance to the attainment of higher economic growth rates. Infrastructure deficit has resulted in higher costs of doing business, declining rates of capacity utilization, and lower quality of life for a majority of our population.
It has been estimated that Nigeria would require an annual infrastructure investment ranging between 6 billion and 9 billion dollars per year. It is clear that the resources available to government ¬despite high oil prices - are inadequate to cope with these many challenges. The task therefore is to put in place an appropriate framework to mobilize non-government resources for the upgrading, maintenance and expansion of our physical infrastructure. The business community is best placed to drive this process of sourcing the needed funding for the development of the quality and quantity of our infrastructure.
Except in the telecommunications sector, the volume of private sector investment in infrastructure projects is still very scant. We therefore need to focus on increasing private sector participation in infrastructure service provision; enhancing government’s capacity to provide infrastructure that are less attractive to the private sector, and on strengthening the government’s ability to effectively regulate infrastructure project development and service provision. This is my challenge to the private sector of our national economy.
Government will intervene to address impediments in the areas of regulatory, legal and market frameworks to make the sector more conducive to private sector investment.
The business community should create the necessary linkages with the capital markets – local and international – to access investable capital not only for the accelerated development of our nation’s critical infrastructure, but also for the development of human capital.
Provision of the requisite funding for training, research and development in partnership with our higher institutions will go a long way to generating the knowledgeable and skilled human capital which we need to drive the accelerated growth of our economy.
We need to take advantage of the great possibilities provided by the competitive opportunities and advantages which today’s knowledge and technology-driven world offers. Innovation is a prime driver of change in the global economy today. The most successful countries are those that have supported critical thinking and invested heavily in harnessing and nurturing the creativity, ingenuity and inventiveness of their people. Our private sector must lead the way in this direction.
We will strive to maintain macroeconomic stability and create a conducive business climate that will attract, encourage and support businesses to start and thrive. We shall also promote competitiveness, believing as we do that this offers the most effective and sustainable path towards the transformation of Nigeria into a diversified economy with exciting growth opportunities.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, accelerated economic growth, sustained development, and the achievement of significant improvement in the living conditions and opportunities available to our people, are goals to which our Administration is irrevocably committed.
I note, with keen interest, that the very stimulating issues lined up for discussion at this Forum are very critical to the realization of our Vision 20-2020. I expect that the outcome of this Summit will greatly enrich government policy formulation and implementation processes.
While wishing you all a most successful and fruitful Forum, it is my distinct honour and privilege to formally declare the 13th Nigerian Economic Summit open.
May God continue to bless and prosper our dear nation. Thank you.
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