A foremost professor of Economics, Bismarck Rewane has lamented that discipline, research and hardwork which were the order of day in Nigeria’s higher institutions have long gone.
Delivering a public lecture to mark the 64th birthday of the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo in Abuja, Monday, titled: “Building the Future of Nigeria through Enterprise and Innovation”, the Economist explained that people brandished certificate that can’t be defended.
Rewane argued that Nigeria as an oil-rich country was poverty-stricken due to management problems
He said that government should adopt economic principles to solve the problem of the economy.
He said: “Therefore, we have our work cut out for us and if we are going to achieve accelerated, sustainable and inclusive growth, we need to attract domestic and international capital with its attendant investment multiplier to achieve a GDP level of $1.5trn by 2030 when our population could be 250mn or more.
“We need to grow the economy at least at 7-8% a year for 5-10 years based on an investment-led strategy.
“If we fail to do this very soon, the problems of
multidimensional poverty, debt, and insecurity may consume us in the next decade.”
He commended the Vice President for not giving to hero worshipping and sycophancy.
“We live in a time of extreme sycophancy and hero-worshiping that many will ask me why are you participating or what have you been promised to sing his praise.
“No, the Prof was not and is not aware of what I want to say, discuss or interrogate this morning. Knowing him as I do, he will not endorse any form of sycophancy.
“The Nigerian project will always be a work in progress. This is more so that we have survived 2 recessions and a pandemic in the last 5 years.
“Yet we are oil-rich and poverty-stricken. There is a lot of work to be done.
“I became mindful of the because of the adulteration of the level of intellectual discourse in Nigeria, which in some cases has degenerated to lamentable levels.
“The level of intellectual degeneracy has reached epic proportions, where certificates are brandished in the place of academic discipline, research, and logical thinking.
“The rat race for quick wealth and short cuts to the top have made society compromise the highest academic standards for certificate forgery, exam malpractice, and harassment of students at our once revered centers of academic excellence,” he added.
