The National Assembly (NASS) has been advised to always consult, as well as collaborate with the private sector on enactment of laws, in order to fast-track economic transformation of the country. .
Dean, Faculty of Management Sciences at Nile University Prof. Ofili Ogwudioha, gave the advice in Abuja while delivering a keynote address during a two day national conference organized by the Public Administration and Management Development Institute (PAMDI) on the theme ”Accountability and Good Governance as Potent Instruments of Wealth Creation and Economic Transformation in Nigeria”.
Ogwudioha who was speaking as a representative of the Former Enugu State Governor Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, maintained that collaboration between government and private sector alongside enabling an environment such as adequate security, power supply, infrastructure, amongst others will bring development.
”The workable solutions for policy makers are collaborative policies and an enabling environment like security, power, basic infrastructure because without these the best policies won’t work. In all the functional economies around the world there is always a collaboration between the private and public sector in policy making, even in enactment of law they consult but here in Nigeria our National Assembly enact laws all by themselves and there is hardly a private bill that can be entertained no matter how important it is in the society this is a big problem.
”There are so many ugly incidences in the country today, kidnappings, insecurity etc discouraging investors to the country the major problem we have is policy, in most cases our policies are good but do we really implement them or carry out the enforcement by law so that culprits would be punished?,” he queried.
The Don also stressed on the need for the citizenry to choose the right leaders that can drive the economy meaningfully, urging that rather than elect those who gave them money they should focus on electing candidates with capabilities in the 2023 election.
”Reviving Nigeria is not only the job of the politicians, the earlier we start thinking of the future the better for this country. 2023 is coming we have capable candidates and there is none of them that cannot lead but for us the electorates we should look at their capabilities and do a scale of preference and not just who gives you money,
”Who will have the best economic policies of the country, who will be able to drive down bribery and corruption because that’s the major problem, who will be able to control the insecurity and make investors come to invest? by the time our thinking goes this way rather than the money we want to get from them Nigeria will be better,” he stressed.
Also in his paper presentation titled ”Promoting Public Service, Civic Leadership and Cross-Sector Partnership in Nigeria Public Administration, Former Vice Chancellor, Ambrose Alli University, Prof. Ignatius Onimawo, urged INEC to deploy ICT technology to conduct the 2023 election for electorates can vote from anywhere they are saying this will tackle ballot box snatching, insecurity as well as accuracy with results for credibility while also calling for transformational leadership in the country.
In his welcome address, Director General, PAMDI, Dr. Elijah Ogbuokiri, said the conference was convened to call all and sundry to consciousness, saying the issues of accountability and good governance is the bane of development while also stressing the need for all to do their bids in rescuing the country from the current situation.
Also a participant Obiageli Olisa, called for all hands to be on deck in contributing to choosing the right leaders in the next election if Nigeria must be a better place for all.
