Every oil boom period has been met by widespread profligacy – Utomi
Every oil boom period has been met by widespread profligacy in the country according to said Prof. Pat Utomi adding that Nigeria has mastered the culture of the failure to save.
Speaking at the 2nd Annual Media Conference on the theme “Economic Survival in a Period of Dwindling Oil Prices” organized by the School of Media and Communication, Pan Atlantic University in conjunction with National Resource Governance Institute, Utomi said that Nigeria has found herself in the situation similar to the mid-80s when they frittered away the petrodollars made during the oil boom without much infrastructural investments or savings for the future.
Utomi said that the just like in the mid-80s, there is no indicator to show any seriousness that the country is ready to diversify her economy.
“The more we talk about diversification of the economy, the less we do something about it”, Utomi said adding that Nigeria has moved from the era of jobless growth economy of the past administration to the stagnation of the current government.
Utomi accused successive governments in Nigeria of being responsible for economic backwardness rather than progress in the country through some of their actions which place private interest above public interest.
He said that a situation where governments cancel concession agreements and contracts entered by their predecessors has done huge damage to the economy and progress of the country as the stories are exaggerated in other countries scaring away new investors and foreign direct investment.
Utomi faulted the developmental policy of the federal government and called for a democratic developmental state which will move the country forward through a new approach by the private sector through non-state actors driving new industrial policy.
“However, the challenge of non-state actors driving new industrial policy is how to prevent government from being nuisance to the private sector efforts” Utomi added.
Dr. Isa Momoh, Faculty member, School of Media and Communication, Pan Atlatic University said that “there is nothing wrong with oil and gas resource. It is a blessing but it is the way you handle it that makes it a curse”.
Gbenga Onayiga, a member of the governing board of the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives (NEITI) in his keynote address said that “it is apparent that oil is no longer the black gold that we knew it to be as the discovery of the shale oil by the US and other global dynamics has made this so”.
Earlier, Dr. IkechukwuObiaya, Dean, School of Media and Communication in his address said that with the dwindling oil prices, there is need to begin to look for solutions adding that for Nigeria to survive and thrive, there is need for the right set of fiscal and monetary policies on the government side to create the right environment as well as courage and commitment on the side of the producers and consumers.
The purpose of the conference according to the organizers was to examine key issues around the implications of oil price decline on the Nigerian economy, what the government’s response in terms of its policy positions should be and how the media can contribute to the key decisions necessary to bring about overall reforms in the oil sector and consequently growth and development in the economy.