Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, has said that economic diversification and ethical leadership are key to solving the current economic problems confronting Nigeria.
Danbatta said this when he delivered a paper titled: “Ethical Leadership as an Instrument for National Sustainability in the Post-Oil Nigerian Economy.
A Public Sector Perspective” at a two-day hybrid, online and onsite, Annual Directors Conference (ADC) organised by the Institute of Directors (IoD), Nigeria.
He also emphasised that the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) or digital age promises greater revenue-earning potential for the nation.
Danbatta, who went on a memory lane to discuss Nigeria’s economic shift to oil revenue following discovery of oil in the 1970s, leading to the relegation of agriculture, which was hitherto the source of Nigeria’s foreign exchanges earnings, said the Federal Government has realised that Nigeria cannot be solely dependent on oil earnings anymore, hence the decision of the FG to explore ways of diversifying the economy.
Economic diversification, according to Danbatta, is the process of shifting an economy away from a single income source toward multiple sources from a growing range of sectors and markets.
He said this is with a view to increasing productivity, creating jobs and providing the basis for sustained economic growth.
The EVC said though, the Federal Government has made several attempts at economic diversification such attempts have had little impact as majority of them have folded up, whilst others are finding it difficult to survive, just as he noted that the situation has further been compounded by the recent economic recession and the COVID-19 pandemic, which adversely affected the global economy, including Nigeria.
Danbatta stated that countries and societies have evolved by finding new ways of doing things to ensure economic sustainability, which has led to the first, second and third industrial revolutions.
“Currently, countries are exploiting the 4IR in order to diversify their economies. The fourth industrial revolution, which has also been referred to as 4IR or Industry 4.0, describes the age of intelligence and encompasses technologies like high-speed mobile Internet, Artificial Intelligence (AI), automation, the use of big data analytics and cloud computing,” he said.
