The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) has urged the Nigerian government to take measures to accelerate the country’s economic growth by working toward a nine million dollars growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2050.
The Chairman of NESG, Mr Asue Ighodalo, said this at the 28th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja on Monday.
The theme of the 2022 NES is, “2023 and Beyond: Priorities for Shared Prosperity’’.
Ighodalo said that the theme was an apt, adding that it was a submission of the challenges facing the country presently.
“To share prosperity, we must be prosperous. From where we are today, we must determine how we become a prosperous, safe, secure law-abiding nation, forged together as one,’’ he said.
The NESG chairman said that the anticipated national prosperity must be equitably distributed among all Nigerians.
He said that the summit would consider a number of things that could accelerate economic growth and national prosperity.
“The adoption of a roadmap borne out of different thinking that will deliver prosperity sufficient to support our vast and steadily growing population.
“A policy framework to ensure equitable circulation and sharing of that prosperity among all our citizens.
“Identification of a few things our government must do over the next six months in its determination to leave behind a much better country,’’ he said.
According to him, Nigerians should also have a broad-based consensus on basic policies that presidential candidates in the forthcoming 2023 elections must sign on to be taken seriously.
He called for a specific target in working toward the desired national prosperity.
“The Nigerian Agenda 2050 currently being worked on proposes a time frame of 25 years.
“This means that we must recalibrate our vision and work toward a specific target growth by a specific date, benchmarking with the most prosperous nations in the world.
“I will propose that our specific target must be bringing Nigeria into the most prosperous black country in the world,’’ he said.
He said that the target should be a GDP per capita that was at par with Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.
