Prof Maxwell Gidado, a constitutional lawyer, has called for the aggressive diversification of Nigeria’s economy away from crude oil to non-oil ventures, saying crude oil-dependent nations face a bleak future.
According to him, the current reality in global demand for, and price of oil, gives credence to this fact. Gidado, who is also an advocate of restructuring, spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He said that a Nigeria without oil, once considered a myth, was fast becoming a reality.
Gidado said experts across the globe had predicted the imminent end of the glorious era of fossil fuel as the mainstay of national economies. The United Kingdom and France, for instance, he said, were planning to ban diesel and petrol cars by 2040. He added that many analysts had also predicted that demand for oil would drop significantly in the years after 2025, when battery-powered cars would go mainstream.
“According to International Energy Agency (IEA), China, the world’s biggest car market, is contemplating a similar move, which would have a significant impact on oil demand,” he said. He said that the IEA also stated that other countries considering the ban were India, Norway and at least 10 other countries. “The above analysis points to the frightening fact that the future for nations, whose economies are predominantly run on oil revenues, is bleak, except they diversify and engage aggressively in non-oil ventures. “Unfortunately, Nigeria habitually depends on oil as its major source of revenue for her economy,” he said. Gidado noted, however, that Nigeria is most endowed in agriculture.
He said that the nation’s tomatoes, carrots, cabbages cucumbers, tubers, grains, livestock and dairy feed most Nigerians, in spite of the huge reserve of their un-exploited export potentials. Gidado stressed that Nigeria could become one of the richest countries in the world, if it diversifies and restructures its economy, as well as applies the right agricultural policies. NAN