A. Preamble
The Nigerian Economic Society (NES) held its 49th Annual Conference at Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Abuja from August 26 - 28, 2008. The main theme of the conference was "Global Competiveness and the Nigerian Economy: The Way Forward". The conference witnessed a large attendance of professionals and practicing economists, students and scholars from within and outside the country through the two day event. In the opening ceremony, on the 26th of August 2008, His Excellency Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, Vice President, Federal Republic of Nigeria declared the conference opened. A keynote address was delivered by Dr. Shamsudden Usman FNES, Honourable Minister of Finance. The opening session also entertained presentations from the following: Professor Chukwuma C. Soludo ably represented by Dr (Mrs.) Sarah Alade, Deputy Governor, Economic Policy, Central Bank of Nigeria; Chief Phillip Asiodu FNES, Chairman College of Fellows and Past Presidents (CFPP), NES; Senator Sanusi M. Daggash, Honourable Minister/Deputy Chairman, National Planning Commisson, ably represented by Professor Syslvester Monye, Executive Secretary, National Planning Commission and Dr. Igwe Aja-Nwachukwu, Honourable Minister of Education.
After two days of extensive and intensive deliberations by scholars, policy makers and practitioners, the following are the highlights.
B. Highlights
The conference observed that:
- The Nigerian economy is not globally competitive because of some limiting factors such as the existence of social distortions, which are the challenges that must be addressed if the country is to be competitive.
- The Conference also reiterated the known fact that recent development strategies around the world have indicated that state and the market are not mutually exclusive but complementary. There is need to understand the dichotomy between competiveness of the private sector and public sector in order to promote efficiency and competiveness of the economy. However, for the private sector to be competitive, government has to be competitive. Presently, the private sector is not competitive.
|
Past Communiqués
Communiqué Issued following deliberations at the 2009 Breakfast Roundtable
Communiqué of the 50th Anniversary Conference of the Nigerian Economic Society
Communiqué of the 45th Annual Conference of the Nigerian Economic Society
Communiqué of the 44th Annual Conference of the Nigerian Economic Society
|
|
