By Victor Otuya & Macaulay Wilson – Asaba
A management consultant and public policy analyst Mr. Barry Pere Gbe, has identified proper management of the nation’s strategic resources as the panacea for the sustainable growth and economic development of the country.
The management expert who was the guest speaker at the annual general meeting of the Sapele chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM), who spoke on the theme: ‘Nation Building and the Management of our Strategic Resources: Our Collective Responsibility’ said that the country’s vast crude oil resources had turned a curse rather than a catalyst for her economic growth.
He said that proper management of the nation’s strategic resources would plug all leakages in the social, economic and political institutions, create equilibrium in wealth production and consumption, as well as develop a culture that would discourage corruption and primitive accumulation of wealth.
He said that if the country was to attain greatness, the citizenry had to collectively address fifteen hindrances to national growth and development which he listed as: deepening social inequality, political alienation, criminalisation of politics, privatisation of the state, institutionalisation of corruption, religious tolerance, crisis of value, economic mismanagement, promotion of ethnicity, inadequate education, federal character issue, land ownership, resource allocation and the defect of the constitution.
He regretted that poor management of national financial resources had spelt doom for many nations of the world including Nigeria, which he said had “instead of seeing massive economic growth, all Nigeria with its huge financial resources, had to show was huge foreign and domestic dept, unpaid salaries of civil servants and the depletion of our excess crude account.”
He stated that Nigeria’s dept profile according to the statistics released by the Dept Management Office stood at N12.06 trillion or $63.5 billion and wondered how the nation got to that level of indebtedness without a corresponding level of improvement in education, equipped Armed Forces and social infrastructure.
Earlier in an address, the chairman of NIM, Sapele Chapter, Mr. Mayor Mogbeyinteren, explained that the annual general meeting is a forum which bring members and non members together once in a year to deliberate upon management/governance challenges with a view to suggesting solution to them.
He said NIM has collaborated with veritable institutions and government in the pursuit of peace, progress and development of Nigeria, maintaining that this year’s theme: “Nation building and the management of our strategic resources: Our collective responsibility,” was carefully chosen to remind us that it is time the way our resources are been managed by those elected to do so becomes the responsibility of all.