By Akoma Chinweoke

A bank chief and chairman of Ithoki Energy Resource, Chief Kingsley Ikpe has advised that to avert further ruins in the nations economy it’s economic planners must stop relying so much on imports and seek ways to encourage productivity if it hopes to remain relevant in the global competitive market.

Ikpe who chaired a public presentation of a book titled Nigeria… A Future In Ruins written by Dr. Jimanze Ego-Alowes in Lagos, lamented that lack of knowledge was keeping Nigeria away from development. He, however, said it is not yet midnight for the country as it can still turn its dwindling economic fortunes around .

“Our people should be a productive people. We should stop importing things that we can make. It is not right that we are a petroleum producing country yet we import petroleum products from the UK. It is not right that we grow cocoa yet we import cocoa finished products from Cadbury.

“So, our planners must make sure that this country is industrialized and the industrialization should begin with value added industries. Industries that can add value to cassava, rice, yam and so on. Once we do that, jobs would now be created for the people and we would become self-reliant.”

He also advised the country’s leaders to learn to live less on politics as a way of making money or being self -dependent adding that self-dependency would come from the country’s industries.

“We don’t want to be worrying so much about the lootings . I want shift emphasis for our people to be productive. In other words the policies of government should discourage importation. We export crude oil. 90 percent of our foreign exchange earnings comes from crude oil and then we use that money to import virtually everything we have. In the end we have nothing.

So it is a rent seeking economy and we must change the structure of the economy. Once, we produce locally, we won’t have these rent seekers and once these rent seekers come, they see opportunities and that’s when the bribery and corruption flourish.

The seasoned stock broker blamed the continuous dwindling fortune of the country’s economy to emphasis on importation and challenged the government to be more productive by investing in infrastructures and great companies that would in turn produce values that would be far more than what was invested.