By Akinwale Kasali
As Nigeria’s economy struggles to survive and citizens grapple with economic hardship, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Olisa Agbakoba, has said the failure of Nigeria to become a producing State has plunged it into a deplorable state.
Agbakoba faulted the economic strategy of President Bola Tinubu, and said it has further plunged the economy into comatose.
He added that the country is not a lazy economy where people do not work hard to make money, and this adversely affects the cost of living.
Agbakoba said this in an interview with Control TV and insisted that the country places the wrong emphasis on the numeric value of the Naira to the Dollar, whereas it should concentrate on the productive value of the Naira to the Dollar.
“The problem is that we are not producing. If you don’t produce, there is nothing to sell. And if you don’t have anything to sell, you are broke. You then depend on the oil which is so small. So we need to produce.
“What are we producing? We are not selling! We don’t sell, we get nothing. So, that’s the problem to say the economic strategy is wrong. You need to expand the economy.
He added that the Federal Government should look at all the sectors of the economy including the creative industry and the legal sector to increase Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Agbakoba said, “Look at all the sectors, just look at what the creative sector is talking about, but they are ignored. In the United Kingdom, legal services contribute 3 per cent to its entire GDP. Here, nobody even counts us (legal services).
“So, that’s the problem. We must find a strategy to correct this. It must be such that we can produce. And we won’t produce in the context of insecurity. These are the questions.
“In the North, agriculture is supposed to be the mainstay but nobody can do mechanised agriculture in the context of insecurity. So the challenges are multi-faceted.
“ So, if we want to grow our economy, we must be looking at how do we become productive. We are a very lazy economy. It doesn’t make sense. It’s just like stealing. Imagine the lady in Humanitarian Affairs, it was alleged that she has stolen half a bil
lion and all we heard is that she has been suspended. If you can get money easily, why will I have to work hard? It’s not reasonable.”
