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PRESS RELEASE BY THE COUNCIL OF THE NIGERIAN ECONOMIC SOCEITY
[NES] 24th August, 2006
47TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE PRESS RELEASE
The Nigerian Economic Society (NES) held its 47th Annual Conference at the Channel View Hotels, Calabar from 22nd - 24th August 2006. The main theme of the conference was "Employment Generation in Nigeria". The Conference witnessed a large attendance of professional and practising economists, students and scholars from within and outside the country through the three-day event. In the opening ceremony on August 22, 2006, the representative of the Governor of Cross River State, Barr Johnson Ebekpo declared the Conference opened. The opening session also entertained presentations from the Governors of Akwa Ibom and the Hon.Minister for Finance.
The annual event had one, plenary session and three concurrent sessions for participants to brainstorm during the conference. The various concurrent sessions provided the forum for the presentation and discussion of papers on five sub-themes of the conference; dimension of unemployment problem in Nigeria, agricultural/rural sector development and employment generation in Nigeria, modeling the Nigerian economy for growth and employment generation/policies for long-run growth and employment, information technology, tourism and " employment generation in Nigeria and globalization and employment generation in Nigeria. Other activities that characterized the 47 Annual Conference include two special presentations on the teaching of Public Sector Economics presented by Dr. Abdul-Ganiyu Garba and the Niger Delta Development Commission Initiative on employment Generation in Nigeria. This session was chaired by Prof. Ben Aigbokhan who provided the opportunity for stakeholders to discuss issues pertaining to the teaching of public sector economics in Nigerian tertiary institutions.
One panel discussion session on the Post Banking Consolidation and Employment Generation in Nigeria was held on August 23, 2005. Prof. Akin Iwayemi chaired the panel discussion, which preceded the closing formalities. The panel discussion featured Prof. Eskor Toyo, Pro(. (Mrs) Ebele Amali, Prof. John C. Anyanwu, Mr. F. o. Odoko, Mr. Charles N. Mondi, Mr. M. K. Ukoli and Mr. Folorunso Esan. The panelists handled the subject matter from various perspectives arising from their specialization and arrived at a conclusion that employment generation is art essential requirement for economic recovery in Nigeria. The panel discussion was followed with the business session of the society were the progress report of the Society was presented. Finally, the President, Prof. Joe Umo addressed a Press conference on issues raised by journalists and other media practitioners.
HIGHLIGHTS
The Conference notes that:
- Government and other stakeholders recognize high level of unemployment in both rural and urban sectors and its worrisome effects on the economy;
- Data inconsistency and availability constitute a constraint on unemployment study;
- Inadequate incentives/infrastructure impact negatively on employment generation and productivity;
- Quality of knowledge, ICT, poverty and cultural ai14 gender stereotypes inhibit productivity and employment generation;
- Inadequate and inconsistent policy mix are fundamental flaws in job creation;
- Lack of political will and transparency constitute hindrance in employment policies;
- The dualistic nature of the economy and access to credit especially among SMEs constitute problems in employment generation;
- Population explosion and inadequate facilities to accommodate it constitute a hindrance in employment;
- Nigeria's preparedness for the knowledge economy in terms of four pillars of knowledge namely; education, institutional effectiveness; innovation and ICT is low.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Conference recommends the following actions:
Government Responsibilities
- Agencies saddled with responsibility to generate and publish relevant socio-economic data should be strengthened;
- Government should be consistent and transparent in policy formulation and implementation;
- Government should provide adequate and sustainable infrastructure (power and energy, security, roads, etc) in both the rural and urban areas;
- Capacity building (human) by way of adequate funding of schools and tertiary institutions in the country should be accelerated;
- Government should hasten the take-off of the second digital satellite project on information technology;
- Government should exercise more efforts in providing collateral on behalf of the small scale enterprises in the country;
- Good governance programmes should be built into all policies of the government;
- Government should sensitize and encourage the practice of family planning among the citizenry;
- Government should ensure conducive environment for investment generally;
- Consolidation in financial institutions and reforms in the energy sector be used to effect growth in the industrial and agricultural sector;
- The National Economic Empowerment Development Strategies should be faithfully implemented having in mind the rural populace of the Nigerian economy;
- The Nigerian government should work to strengthen the four pillars of knowledge through the following:
- Setting up a strategic knowledge commission to catalyse and coordinate pillars;
- Set up an educational transformation study commission to review the educational system including financing and curriculum review, etc;
- Setting up at least two graduate programmes to accelerate the training of ICT experts, engineers and experts who can help the country create comparative advantage in lCT;
- To take measure to stem and reverse the brain drain; and
- To target full employment in managing the economy.
Responsibilities of the Private Sector
- Private sector should encourage research and development (R & D) to ensure the improvement of local content;
- Private sector should adequately and proportionately discharge their social responsibilities;
- The sector should also encourage locals in skill acquisitions and provisions of relevant inputs that will enhance self employment;
- Private sector should invest in primary data generation and publication.
Responsibilities of Academia
- The academia should research into the dualistic nature of the Nigerian economy;
- The academia should appraise and re-examine the relevance of the curriculum for teaching and practice of economics in the Nigerian environment.
Responsibilities of NGOs
- The NGOs should assist in the provision of basic infrastructure and credit;
- They should assist in mounting skill acquisitions programme especially among the youths.
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Professor Joe Umo
President,
Nigeria Economic Society (NES)
24th August 2006
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