A former Governor of the Central Bank (CBN) and immediate past Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi, has raised the alarm that the Nigerian economy is about to collapse totally. He said the goose laying the ‘golden egg’ for Nigeria is about to die.
The emir who spoke at the closing of the Kaduna Investment Summit tagged, “KadInvest 6.0,” Friday said, that, aside from the fact that Nigeria was having difficulties in oil production; the product was being rejected in the global market, as there was no future in carbon.
The former CBN governor who pointed out that the future lied in a knowledge-based economy, which is the theme of the Summit, however, lamented that Nigeria was behind many African countries in the innovation index ranking 114th globally.
Noting that Ghana with a smaller economy had invested more in education, he lamented Nigeria spent only seven per cent of its budget in that direction.
Saying “Only eight of every 100 Nigerians who start primary school, complete university.”
According to him, “Globally, work is being redefined. 30 to 40 per cent of workers in developed economies will need to significantly upgrade their skills by 2030. And what are the major drivers of this redefinition…ICT and remote working, which we have seen even here with COVID-19.
“There is increased automation and artificial intelligence. Very soon, robots will take over work in most countries and those who would have jobs are those who operate the robots, manufacture the robots or service the robot.”
Meanwhile, the state government said it would be introducing ICT skills in the vocational institutes and also in primary and secondary schools across the state.
Governor Nasir El-Rufai in an interview at the Summit said his administration believed that the future of jobs in the world would be digital.
