Nigeria’s Economic Recovery Lies On Patriotism, Diaspora’s Influence

As Nigeria economic growth slows as a result of fiscal and monetary hiccups, the chief executive officer (CEO), African Heritage Foundation, Tunde Adetunji has said the nation’s economic recovery and emancipation lies on strong patriotism of Nigerians and Nigerians living abroad.

This is even as the director-general, Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Adewale Smatt Oyerinde, advocated collaboration for entrepreneurs to excel in businesses either in the formal or informal sector of the nation’s economy.

Adetunji, who spoke earlier, while delivering his paper on ‘Brain Drain To Brain Gain: The Role of the Media in Shaping Nigeria’s Narrative,’ at a workshop sponsored by NECA for Business Editors in Ikeja, Lagos, at the weekend, noted that, greed, unpatriotism and corruption were what drove Nigeria into its current economic quagmire.

To get out of the challenge, he charged Nigerians in-country and abroad to be patriotic about their country and always aspire to contribute their respective quotas towards its economic growth and development.

Leaders, he said, must shun greed that breeds corruption in governance, as accountability and transparency are characteristics that made developed countries what they were., urging Nigeria and Nigerians to borrow a leaf from Chinese and Indian models, whose citizens scattered across the world in search of education and skills, are coming back to their respective home country to develop it.

“Today, China is the industrial nerve centre of the world, Japan is home of technology and same with Indians. These countries were nothing a century ago but their citizens travelled across the world, acquired the necessary education and skills and returned home to practice what they have acquired. Therefore, Nigerians-in-Diaspora would be critical to the economic prosperity of the country. They need to come home to invest and participate in changing our political and economic landscape, although, government too must be receptive to such an idea for it to work,” he pointed out.

Believing that everybody has passion and that what was missing is the ability to turn such passion into purpose, he added that, “whatever you are, if you cannot contribute to the growth and development of your country, you are a nobody. It is not about acquiring all the certificates of this world, it is about what you create with such certificates, the jobs that you created, the lives that you impacted, and so on.“

He said, the countries that Nigerians aspire to go to or even become their citizens were built by their citizens home and abroad because of patriotism, urging all Nigerians, especially, the youths to also partake in governance to rewrite the country’s future.

“Nigerians are everywhere in the world doing great things. It just needs the commitment of the government to woo such people by creating the right operating environment for them to excel when they come here to invest or are ready to partake in the country’s governance,” he said.

Africa, he said, is full of natural resources but lacks the human resources to manage the abundant resources which is leading to brain drain as transparency and accountability are what makes a country better. “African countries can utilise their diasporas to grow their economies, just as Chinese, Japanese and Indians are currently doing. Population is here in Africa but we are not utilising this to our own advantage. This must change going forward,” he said.

On his part, the director general, Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Adewale Smatt Oyerinde, who is an advocate of collaboration among critical stakeholders in business world, noted that, competition will not take businesses so far, but collaboration is what will define the future of business.

He said, NECA is the voice of business and has been the mouthpiece of employers since 1957, when NECA was created, discussing with the government on behalf of employers, even as it is the secretariat for several associations operating in the private sectors of the nation’s economy.

He charged employers to leverage collaboration for business growth as partnership takes a business to its zenith. Saying that NECA has several international affiliates, he promised that the organisation will continue to oil its relationships with the media often to raise awareness on its activities and ability to make businesses tick through training for employers of labour.

On his part, the president, Association of Business Editors of Nigeria (ABEN), Gabriel Omoh, lauded NECA and African Heritage Foundation for their input in the training, stating that, this will no doubt widen the orison of participants to understand the routine of NECA and how it’s activities impacts the business world as well as how to turn brain drain to brain gain.

He assured NECA of the willingness of his association to work with it in a move to enhance developmental journalism in the country.