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Kano Emir Advises FG To Learn From Lagos

President Buhari and Emir Sanusi
President Buhari and Emir Sanusi

The Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi , has advised the federal government to copy from Lagos state in terms of formulating policies that can boost trade, business and attract investors, adding that the Lagos example can bail the country from its current economic woes.

According to him, the inconsistency of the country’s economic policies by successive government has plunged the nation into unprecedented hardship, adding that if President Buhari does not initiate urgent economic measures, Nigerians may reject his administration the way they rejected former president Goodluck Jonathan administration.

The Emir who spoke during a lecture entitled: “The Search for a New Growth Model”, delivered at the 15th Joint Planning Board and National Council on Development Planning organized by the Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning in collaboration with Kano state government, insisted that Nigeria has to retrace its step in terms of economic policies

Sanusi cautioned President Buhari over becoming captive to those he described as voodoo economists at the corridors of power, noting that the current economic policy and its inconsistency does not favour business and investment in the country.

He also decried over-dependent on oil, stating that more investment in agriculture, power sector, manufacturing and infrastructural development and attractive incentive to investors will boost the growth of the nation’s economy.

His words “I just saw that we are always blaming the past administration, but we have also made mistakes in this administration. The problem is that there is nothing we are facing today that we did not know what happened. That is the truth.

“We made mistakes, many of them deliberate. We ignored every single warning. Not building roads, not building power and other necessary infrastructure that can boost the economy and development of the country.



“We are spending 30 to 40 percent of every Naira we earn servicing debt. The new borrowings were simply recycled into much higher recurrent expenditure. The GDP was growing largely due to consumers items.

“In 2010 when I was Governor of Central Bank, the government increased minimum wage to N18, 000. I protested but they went ahead and borrowed money to pay. In 2012, as Governor of CBN, I said that this is an unsustainable wage bill. We need to reduce the size of public service, which fell onto deaf ears.




     

     

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    “I believe we have started retracing our steps and we have to retrace our steps. If a policy is wrong, it is wrong and it has to be changed.”

    Emir Sanusi further advocated for devaluation of the Naira, stating that those who are advising President Muhammad Buhari on the nation’s economy are not getting it right.

    The Emir noted that only very few Nigerians are benefitting from the current economic policies, noting that the policy is making the rich to get richer, while the poor continue to wallow in poverty.

    He said Nigeria has been suffering from bad trade policy which is responsible for the collapse of industries, adding that bad economy led to the growth of terrorism, leaving millions of Nigerian youths jobless and restive.

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