Posted by Toyin Obadina, Ibadan on
Economists grouped under the aegis of the Chartered Institute of Nigerian Economists, have identified financial crimes as constituting a major hindrance to the realization of the full benefits of the free market system in the country.
Economists grouped under the aegis of the Chartered Institute of Nigerian Economists, have identified financial crimes as constituting a major hindrance to the realization of the full benefits of the free market system in the country.
The President of CINE, Dr. Edward Ogunleye, who stated this at the second annual induction of members of the institute and mandatory training held at the University of Ibadan Conference Centre on Saturday, also called for the enthronement of sound economic governance in the country.
Ogunleye said that economic and financial crimes constituted major imperfections, which would not allow the free market system being embraced globally to flourish in Nigeria.
He commended the efforts of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in sanitizing the nation's economy, particularly the prosecution of high profile financial criminals and the recovery of substantial sums.
He also described as a welcome development, the agency's current collaboration with the Financial Institutions Training Centre.
'The synergy so derived from the collaborative effort will go a long way in speeding the rate of adjusting the economic and financial climate to normalcy," he added.
Ogunleye also identified the debt overhang on the nation and mis-governance, as other factors inhibiting the country's growth rate and urged the Federal Government to thoroughly implement the debt relief package to accelerate the nation's economic growth.
He canvassed the need for the pursuit of sound economic governance alongside good political governance, saying that economic outcomes such as economic growth, employment generation and poverty reduction, were all hinged crucially on economic governance.
He urged economists to serve as a pressure group that would ensure the implementation of sound economic policies, adding that a bill that would give legal teeth to the institute was now before the National Assembly.
The Chairman of the occasion, Mr. J.O. Adeyemi, observed that the nation's economy needed quantum leap growth to be relevant in world economy, stressing, 'It is high time economists took up the challenge and participate in wealth creation and economic growth of the country."
Adeyemi traced the success factor of the current administration to President Olusegun Obasanjo's strategy of appointing non-partisan economists to key positions including the central bank governorship and the finance ministry.
According to him, in the emerging vibrant economy, which the president was striving to evolve, economists must assume a strategic aspect in wealth creation and service delivery to fast track the growth of the nation's economy.
In his paper at the occasion entitled, 'Capacity Building of Indigenous Wealth Creation: the Strategy for National Transformation and Growth Process," Dr. O.E.Charles-Owaba, challenged economists in the country to effectively permeate the political terrain and took good grip of its pillars t and strings in order to effectively apply their professional know-how to refine the polity.
Charles-Owaba, who is the Head, Industrial and Production Engineering Department, University of Ibadan, said that to fold arms and watch might leave the industrial capacity building process linger too long without meaningful results.
While also canvassing for the enthronement of good governance, the lecturer called for the immediate privatization of the Nigerian railway Corporation and the zonal steel rolling mills.
According to him, the Delta Steel Company and the Oshogbo Machine Tool Centre should also be privatized, adding that the Federal Government should also evolve and vigorously pursue a strong policy on small scale industry.
He decried the paucity of funding for research and development in the country's institutions and called for a change of heart.
THE PUNCH, August 08, 2005